Knock Down Little One
by MoxiesdenLovesShandy
Summary: Sharon and the team are back to solve another crime in LA. A child goes missing and the team searches for clues to the child's whereabouts. Many obstacles come forth including uncooperative witnesses or are they suspects?
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

**A/N: **Hello everyone! Here is the next story and takes place a few months after _The Weekend_. We are back to a crime story, as our beloved characters investigate this crime, it may be too much for some to read as the chapters go on. It's loosely based on a crime that took place in a neighboring town by me.

Chapter 1

It was the middle of April, on a Thursday morning, and the Major Crimes team hadn't caught a case in almost two weeks. Sharon had taken advantage of this time to push her team through some training that was being offered by the department. Julio and Amy were currently on the second floor going through a Defensive Tactics class while Mike just returned to the office from a morning seminar on Money Forensics, which was taught by a forensics expert from the FBI.

Andy had gone to a refresher course on Defensive Driving last week and was currently sitting at his desk while Buzz returned from his training on a new communications equipment. Provenza was still sitting at his desk, not moving, working on his crossword puzzle. He had refused to let Sharon sign him up for any sort of additional training. His argument to her was that he didn't need any training because he had over 40 years of experience and that was enough for him. Sharon had laughed when he told her that and they had both come to a compromise.

Sharon peered out her window from her desk and saw both Mike and Buzz returning. She sighed as she read Chief Howard's email to her regarding a tactical training exercise that the whole squad would have to be involved in. She didn't know how she was going to convince Provenza that he needed to participate in this one but she would think of something, plus, she had the next two weeks to break it to him.

The rest of the day went by without a hitch and everyone in the office was ready to go home. Andy waited for Sharon to come out of her office and once she was ready, they left together. As they rode down the elevator, Sharon leaned her head on Andy's arm and held onto his hand with both of her hands. "Everything okay?" he asked her and she sighed as the elevator doors opened to the parking garage.

"I received an email from Chief Howard about a tactical exercise in two weeks that everyone needs to participate in," she told him as they walked to their car. "Oh, well, that doesn't sound too bad, might actually be fun," Andy said optimistically. "I don't know how your partner is going to react to this news," Sharon sounded concerned and Andy picked up on that immediately.

"Don't worry about Provenza, once he hears of this exercise, I'm sure he'll jump at the opportunity," Andy told her but Sharon could not keep a straight face and started to laugh. "He didn't even want to go to any of those trainings that were being offered last week and this week," she told him as he unlocked the car and opened the door for her.

Andy shook his head. "If I know Provenza as well as I should, he will jump on this type of training, especially if the whole team has to do it," Andy assured her as she got inside the vehicle. He smiled and closed her door, making his way to the driver's side and getting in. He started the car and drove them to Matthew's school to pick him up.

Andy glanced over at Sharon, who was staring out the passenger window. He grabbed her hand in his and gave a gentle squeeze. "Is something else bothering you?" he asked her, wondering if this email was the only thing on her mind. "No," she said, pausing for a moment before continuing. "It's just unsettling that we haven't caught a case yet, it's been weeks since our last case, and I'm not complaining but that usually means a really bad case is on the horizon," she continued.

Andy squeezed her hand again as he turned down the street where Matthew's school was located. He turned the car into the parking lot of the school. "Well, if we get a bad case then we'll deal with it, right?" Andy said, looking at Sharon after placing the car in park. "Heck, I'd be happy with any case right now, watching Provenza sit as his desk and do nothing is irritating me," he added which made Sharon smile and lean in, placing a kiss on his lips.

"I'll go in and get Matthew," she smiled and stepped out of the car. Closing the door, she made her way towards the building. Once she was inside, she saw one of the teachers sitting at the desk in the hallway. "Nice to see you again, Mrs. Flynn," the teacher said to her and Sharon recognized her as being one of Matthew's teacher this year. She met her at the Parent-Teacher conferences about a month ago. She taught Matthew science and spoke well about how Matthew was such a lovely kid in her class.

"It's nice to see you too," Sharon responded to her and gave her a small smile. The teacher walked over to the classroom and called Matthew over to her. "Matthew, your mom is here," she said. Matthew looked up from his homework that he was doing and quickly put away his things, placing them in his backpack and waved to his friends as he walked out of the room.

"Hi Mom," he said to Sharon as he made his way into the hallway. "Hi, do you have everything?" Sharon asked him and he nodded. She turned around and waved to the teacher before walking out of the school with Matthew. "So, how was your day?" she asked him as they walked to where the car was parked.

"It was okay. Billy threw up his lunch during gym class," he told her as they got to the car. "Oh, I'm sure that was," she paused. "Just great," she continued, and couldn't think of a better word. Matthew shrugged his shoulders as he opened the car door to get inside. "Hi Dad," he said as he placed his seat belt on. "Hey kiddo, how was school?" Andy asked as Sharon got in the car.

"It was okay. Billy threw up his lunch in gym class," he told Andy and Andy didn't know how to respond. "Oh, I'm sure that was pretty," he said and waited for Sharon to put on her seat belt before he drove away and headed home. "He got hit with a basketball, right in his stomach, and then before anyone could move, he threw up," Matthew said.

"He's okay now, or at least he was okay when he left school, but you should have seen gym class after that," Matthew kept talking about it, for a little bit before Sharon changed the subject, asking him how much homework did he finish after school. "I still need to go over some math problems that I have," Matthew said. "I'll look them over after we finished dinner," Sharon said as Andy drove them all home.

After dinner was over, Matthew went to get his homework so that Sharon could look over his math problems with him. Andy cleaned up the kitchen, putting the food away in leftover containers and then walked into the family room to watch the Dodgers game. Moxie followed him there and laid down next to him on the couch. "We'll see how they do this year," he said to the dog while he turned on the TV.

Finding the correct channel, he found the game, and the Dodgers were already losing to the Cardinals, 5-0 in the bottom of the second inning. Andy sighed as he placed the remote on the coffee table and watched the game.

Meanwhile, Sharon was helping Matthew with his math problems. Matthew was working on the worksheet his teacher gave them to finish when he got stuck on a fraction problem. He started to get frustrated when he kept erasing over the same area. Sharon watched him and placed her hand on his left hand to stop him.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked. "I don't like fraction problems, they get confusing," Matthew muttered as he looked at the problem again. Sharon turned the paper so she could get a better look at it. "Okay, let's try working on it together," she told him and he nodded.

Later on, in the game, the Dodgers made an error on the field after tying it up and allowed the Cardinals player to hit an inside the park homerun with 2 players on base at the time. Andy yelled out to the TV, "Awe come on guys! What are you sleeping?"

"Is Dad okay in there?" Matthew asked as he was finishing his science homework. Sharon looked up from her laptop and over to the hallway after hearing Andy yell at the TV. "He's just watching his Dodgers, sweetie, and they disappoint him every year," Sharon told him as she shifted in her chair. "Are you finished with your homework?" she asked him. Matthew started to place his last worksheet in his folder. "Yes," he muttered as Sharon gestured with her hand for Matthew to show her the papers.

Sharon looked everything over and smiled. "Okay, looks good, now put them away and you can go join your father in misery watching the game," Sharon joked and Matthew put his folder away and ran into the family room to join Andy.

Sharon continued to work from her laptop to go over a few things, including that tactical training that was happening in two weeks. Chief Howard sent her a more in-depth email regarding everything that was going to be involved during the training process. Apparently, it wasn't just going to be the LAPD involved but other agencies as well.

That night, as Andy was putting Matthew to bed and saying good night to him, Sharon joined him in the hallway as he walked out of Matthew's room. "How was the game?" she asked him as she rubbed her hand up and down his back. They both walked into their room and he grumbled something about the Dodgers losing the game.

Sharon shook her head and stepped into their bathroom to get herself ready for bed. Andy went into their closet and looked over the suit he was going to wear to work tomorrow. Sharon had changed her clothes and was now staring back at herself in the mirror over the sink.

"I was thinking we could wear blue tomorrow," Andy said as he walked into the bathroom. Sharon looked at Andy in the mirror. "That's fine," she replied as she removed her makeup with a cleanser. After she was finished, she wiped her face with a towel and walked out of the bathroom, allowing Andy to get himself ready for bed.

Andy quickly changed into his pajamas and joined Sharon back in their bedroom. He noticed her bedside light was on now and she was curled up on her side, waiting for him. He slipped into bed after closing the door, and moved the covers over both of them. Sharon settled into his side.

"Goodnight sweetheart," he whispered and kissed the top of her head. She moved to look up at him, kissing his lips. "Goodnight," she whispered back to him. Andy closed his eyes and fell asleep. Sharon laid there and listened to Andy's breathing, which eventually, lulled her to sleep.

The next morning, Matthew was rushing around trying to get everything he needed for school together. Sharon was finishing up getting ready for work while Andy was sitting in the kitchen, drinking a freshly made cup of coffee. He heard Matthew running up and down the stairs. He looked down at Moxie, who was laying by his feet, and the dog looked up at him.

Matthew rushed into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl off the island counter, and placed it on the kitchen table. He turned to get a box of cereal from the pantry and filled his bowl with Lucky Charms. "So, buddy, what's the rush this morning?" Andy asked him, placing his cup on the table.

"I forgot to put my homework and books in my backpack, and then I forgot that we are going on a field trip today to the science museum, so I needed to bring quarters with me, and that was up in my room," Matthew explained as he ate his cereal.

"The science museum, that should be fun," Andy replied and stood up as he heard Sharon coming down the stairs. He walked over to the coffee maker and poured her a cup of coffee, making it the way she liked it.

"Good morning," she smiled as she stepped into the kitchen. "Morning," grumbled Matthew as he continued to eat. Sharon turned to be greeted by Andy holding a cup of coffee for her. "Hmm, thank you," she told him as she took a sip of coffee.

"What was with all the running back and forth earlier?" Sharon asked as she placed some fruit on her dish and sat down at the table. "I forgot we have a field trip to the science museum today and I needed quarters," Matthew explained again, as he finished. He stood up and brought his bowl to the sink. "I'm going to take Moxie out," he told them and the dog jumped up from where he was laying and walked with Matthew to the back door.

"How are you this morning?" Andy asked Sharon as he sat down next to her. "I'm fine," she smiled as she ate. He admired her, looking over her outfit that she chose to wear today. He always liked that color blue on her. She was wearing her blue blazer, along with a white blouse, and a black skirt. That meant Andy would be staring at her legs all day, but she didn't mind and neither did he.

"You're going to drive me crazy all day today," he mumbled to her as he leaned over and kissed her cheek. Sharon shook her head and smiled again. "I need to have some fun," she told him, smoothing down his blue tie over his light blue dress shirt. He laughed. "Oh, I can show you some fun tonight," he leaned over again, this time kissing her on her lips, lingering perhaps a little too long, as they were interrupted by Matthew and Moxie coming back inside the house.

They finished getting ready. Sharon grabbed her purse and shoulder bag. Matthew grabbed his backpack and Andy picked up his keys from the kitchen counter. "Got everything?" Andy asked and they both nodded as they stepped out the back door and headed towards the garage. Andy closed and locked the door behind them.

Twenty minutes later, they were dropping Matthew off at school. "I hope Billy shows up today," he said as he got out of the car. "Oh, I'm sure if he was feeling better, he will," Sharon told him as she got out of the passenger side of the car. "It's okay Mom, you don't have to walk me over to the door," Matthew told her and she smiled. "Okay," she said, standing there watching him walk across the parking lot to the main entrance.

Sharon turned and got back into the car, sighing as she settled herself in the passenger seat. "He's growing up," she said. Andy took hold of her hand and gave a gentle squeeze. "He's not the little boy we found 3 years ago," he told her. She glanced over at him, smiled, and then looked out the window at all the kids still walking into school.

Andy pulled the car out of the parking lot and headed towards the PAB. Traffic was already building on the freeway by the time Andy merged onto the road. "Have you thought about summer vacation for Matthew?" he asked her as he drove. "Yes, I need to sign him up for summer baseball again," she said as she looked on her phone.

"Registration is coming up in a week," she added as she put her phone down on the center console. "We took two weeks off in July, what did you have in mind then?" he asked as traffic came to a stop. Andy grumbled as he stopped the car. Sharon shook her head at him. "Matthew mentioned something about going to Disneyland again, he had such a wonderful time the last time we were there," she told him, as she thought back to that trip that they all took.

She then remembered the wonderful time she had with Andy there and that brought another smile to her face. "I remember a certain lady who also had a wonderful time there too," he glanced at her, giving her his sly smile. "Yes, I did," she returned his smile and traffic started to move again.

Sharon's phone rang, breaking her from her memory and saw that Provenza was calling her. "Good morning Lieutenant, what can I do for you?" she said as she answered the phone. "Sorry to bother you, Commander, but we've been called out to a possible child abduction," Provenza informed her. "Where?" she asked him. "Montecito Heights," Provenza said. "We're on our way, text me the address, are we looking at a critical missing?" Sharon asked. "Hard to say. I'll fill you in more when you get here," Provenza told her as he looked up at the house and the parents standing outside by the front door.

"Where are we heading?" Andy asked as he got back up to the speed limit. "Montecito Heights," she told him. "There's a possible child abduction," she added as Andy flipped on the lights and started to drive around the cars, ending up driving on the shoulder of the highway to the 110, before getting off there and traveling northbound towards their destination.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 2

As Andy pulled the car up to the area where the house was located, Sharon looked out the window at the scene in front of them. She saw Provenza barking orders to local Patrol Officers and Amy speaking to neighbors. Andy placed the car in park and turned off the engine. As he stepped out of the car, he placed his sunglasses on. Sharon stepped out of the car and Andy joined her as they both walked over to Provenza.

"Lieutenant," Sharon spoke as Provenza saw them approach him. "Ah, Commander, there's something odd about this one," Provenza told her quietly, as they walked towards the house slowly. "Parents, uh, Claudia Ramsey and William Duffy, said the last time they saw their child, Luke Duffy, was 9 o'clock last night when they tucked him into bed," Provenza stated as Sharon walked closer to the house.

Andy glanced around at the house and saw Julio in the garage, moving some boxes around. "Where's Mike and Buzz?" he asked Provenza. "They're in the house, looking at the kid's room," Provenza said as they walked up the walkway towards the front door where the parents were standing with a patrol officer.

"Claudia and William, I'm Commander Sharon Flynn of the LAPD. You told my Lieutenant, the last time you saw your child, Luke, was 9pm last night, is that correct?" Sharon asked them and saw how distraught the mother was. "Yes," Claudia muttered and started to fidget with her fingers as she stood there.

Sharon noticed that and took another step forward. "Why don't we go inside where we can talk," Sharon suggested to them and followed William and Claudia back into the house. Provenza joined Sharon while Andy went upstairs to where the bedrooms were located.

Sharon sat down after Claudia and William sat on a couch in the living room. Sharon glanced around the room. It seemed like the room wasn't finished and there was a mess everywhere, with kid toys and magazines strewn across the floor. "Sorry for the mess, but with two kids and one on the way, I don't have the time to clean as I would like," Claudia told Sharon and Provenza.

"That's not a problem, I have 4 kids of my own and know how messy they can be," Sharon said. "Is there anything, any sign, that Luke would run away, or maybe play hide and seek?" she asked the parents. Claudia hesitated answering Sharon. "No, he's a good kid, he wouldn't do that," William answered, and Sharon shifted her eyes towards him.

"How old is Luke?" Sharon asked them. "He's 6, our other kid, Eric, is 4," William answered. "And where is your other son Eric?" Provenza asked. "He's in the back room, playing with toys," Claudia stated. "What time did you notice Luke was missing from the house?" Sharon asked.

"This morning, uh around 6am, when he didn't come down for breakfast," Claudia said, wringing her hands together as she sat there. "Do you normally have breakfast that early?" Provenza asked. "Yes, William usually takes Luke to day care on his way to work at 7," Claudia answered, almost too quickly and defensive.

Meanwhile, Andy joined Mike and Buzz upstairs in Luke's room. "Do we have anything to go on up here?" Andy asked as he stepped into the room, noting there were two twin beds against the wall and a closet on the other side. Mike was looking through the dresser to see if there were any clues there.

"No, there's no sign of a struggle up here, and there's no blood anywhere," Mike added as he pointed to his bag on the floor. Andy nodded, noting that Mike had already used his can of luminol and a black light. "So, where the hell is this kid at?" Andy muttered walking towards the closet.

Luke's back pack and a duffle bag were still in the closet. Both beds were not made and looked like they had been slept in. There was a stuffed animal on both of the beds as well. "If I was a kid, and ran away from home, I would make sure I'd take this guy with me," Buzz stated as he picked up the worn stuffed animal.

Back downstairs, Sharon walked over to speak to Eric. Claudia walked with her leaving Provenza with the father. "Why aren't you guys out there searching for our son?" William started to get loud. "Mister Duffy, I assure you we are doing everything we can right now to look for your son, our patrol officers are canvassing your neighborhood, and we are interviewing your neighbors!" Provenza stood up and pointed at William.

Sharon walked over to Eric who was playing with some trucks. "Hi Eric, my name is Sharon," she said as she knelt down on the floor. "Can I ask you a question about last night?" she asked him. Eric looked up at her from his playing and shrugged his shoulders. He continued to play as Sharon watched him. "Eric, did you see your brother last night?" she asked.

Eric nodded yes as he kept playing. "Do you know where he went?" Sharon asked him, thinking that maybe he would tell on his brother if he saw where Luke disappeared to. He shook his head no and kept playing. Eric looked up at his mom and then at Sharon, then he crashed his two trucks together.

Sharon stood up and turned to Claudia. "Claudia, I would like for you and your husband to come down to our office to give an official statement," Sharon told her. "Uh, I don't think that's a good idea, I mean, I can't leave Eric here by himself, he doesn't go to day care, and I don't want him coming with us," Claudia stammered as she spoke. Sharon found her statement to be odd.

"What if Luke comes back here and we're not here? He'll get scared," Claudia added. "Okay," Sharon said, pausing to figure out her next action in this case. "Excuse me, I need to speak with my Lieutenant for a minute," Sharon said and walked back to where Provenza was.

"Lieutenant can you step outside with me for a brief minute?" Sharon asked as she walked past Provenza into the hallway where the front door was located. "Please call Central and ask for K9 units to be sent to this location. I want to know if Luke left this house or not," Sharon informed him just as Andy, Mike, and Buzz were walking down from upstairs.

"There's nothing upstairs that suggests a struggle or anything out of place," Andy told Sharon and Provenza as Buzz stepped outside to film the outside of the house. "There's also no blood in the kid's room or the bathroom upstairs," Mike added and Sharon nodded.

"I asked the mom to come back to the station with us to give her full statement, along with her husband, but she's refusing to, stating what if Luke comes back home while they're not here," Sharon told them as she looked towards the living room at the parents and saw them talking to each other.

William then spoke up as he walked towards Sharon and her team. "I'll come down and give my statement, that way Claudia can stay here if Luke comes back home," he said and Sharon agreed. "Fine, Mister Duffy, if you could go with my two Lieutenants here Downtown, that would be appreciated," Sharon said and nodded to Mike and Provenza.

Amy walked into the house as Provenza, Mike, and William were leaving. "Commander, I spoke with a bunch of the neighbors," Amy started to say and looked up to see Claudia staring in the background. "Um, maybe we should talk outside," Amy suggested and Sharon agreed, following her out the door. Sharon told a patrol officer to wait inside with Claudia and keep an eye on her.

Andy stepped outside too with them and listened to what Amy had discovered. "One of the neighbors, who lives across the street, said that Department of Children and Family Services was out here about three months ago doing some sort of check on the parents," Amy told them.

"Checking on them because?" Sharon asked, folding her arms across her chest. "I don't really know, until we contact DCFS," Amy answered. "Call Cynthia, see if she knows anything that could help us out," Sharon suggested and Amy nodded, stepping away to pull out her phone.

"What are you thinking?" Andy asked Sharon, as he studied her look. "I'd like to know why Major Crimes was called out to this case. I also want to know where Luke is, is he hiding, was he taken?" Sharon rubbed her forehead with her right hand. "You okay?" Andy asked, concerned. Sharon nodded and saw Julio step out of the garage.

"Detective, did you find anything of interest inside the garage?" Sharon asked as her and Andy walked towards Julio. "No ma'am, there's some gardening tools that are covered with dirt but there's new flowers in the garden so they could have used them for planting," he answered her.

Just then, 2 K9 officers pulled up in their vehicles and got out. They were talking to each other before they walked over to meet Sharon. "Commander, I'm Officer Hicks, this is Officer Rogers, you asked for K9 to search for a missing boy?" Officer Hicks stated.

"Yes, there's a missing 6 year old boy, name is Luke, he lives here with his parents and younger brother. The parents said the last time they saw him was 9 o'clock last night. My detectives went into the boy's room and didn't see any signs that would suggest a struggle or abduction," Sharon explained to him.

"Our dogs will need his scent at first and then we will see if they can pick up anything on the whereabouts of this kid," Officer Hicks stated and Sharon nodded and turned to Andy. "Lieutenant, could you find something that belongs to Luke and bring to Officer Hicks," Sharon asked him and Andy nodded, and walked back into the house.

He went upstairs and took the stuffed animal off of Luke's bed. He also went into the hamper, and pulled out a shirt that looked like it was big enough for a 6 year old to wear. Bringing the items back down with him, he encountered Claudia. "What are you doing with those?" she asked him.

"Is this Luke's?" Andy held up the worn shirt and Claudia nodded yes. Andy walked outside and handed the items to the K9 officer. "Thanks, these should work," Officer Hicks stated and then joined Officer Rogers at their vehicles.

"Excuse me! What are you doing with Luke's things?" Claudia came out of the front door and Sharon turned around to meet her. "I asked for K9 officers to come and see if they can pick up your son's scent to see where he could have possibly gone, they need some items that belong to him in order to search for Luke," Sharon explained and noted the worried look on Claudia's face.

"If there's anyone in the house, can you have them come outside while I run Brutus in the house?" Officer Hicks stated to Sharon and she nodded. "Claudia, I need you to bring Eric out here, okay?" Sharon asked her and Claudia nodded, going inside to bring Eric out, with the patrol officer following her.

"It's all clear ma'am," the patrol officer told Sharon and she turned to Officer Hicks. "It's all yours," she told him and he went into the house with Brutus and Officer Rogers. Brutus picked up on Luke's scent right away, moving quickly through the house and going upstairs into his bedroom.

Brutus then moved from the bedroom to the bathroom and gave a positive alert for the bathroom. Then Brutus made his way, along with Officer Hicks, towards the other bedroom, which belonged to the parents.

"There's a scent of this kid in every room here," Officer Hicks told Officer Rogers and he agreed. "Let's run Nikki outside and see if she can pick up a trace there," he suggested and they brought Brutus out of the house.

Officer Hicks brought Brutus back into his car and then walked over to Sharon. "The kid's scent is all over that house, strongly in the kids bedroom, bathroom, and the parents bedroom," Officer Hicks told Sharon. "We're going to run Nikki out here to see if she picks anything up," he added and Sharon nodded in agreement.

Officer Rogers went to get Nikki out of his car and began running her outside the house. Sharon turned to Andy and Julio. "Go back into the kids room, bathroom, and parents room and make sure Luke isn't hiding somewhere up there," she told them and also pointed to two patrol officers to go with them.

"Cynthia said she's going to meet you at your office in an hour," Amy came up beside Sharon and stood next to her as they watched Officer Rogers going around the outside of the house with Nikki. Nikki picked up Luke's scent outside, mostly in the backyard, but not further out. When Nikki came back around to the front of the house, Nikki stopped at the car in the driveway and looked up at Officer Rogers.

"Is the kid in the car?" Amy asked as Officer Hicks walked over to join Officer Rogers and Nikki. The car was unlocked and he opened the back door of the car, but Luke wasn't inside. Sharon and Amy moved closer to the driveway to take a look. Officer Hicks opened the glove box and hit the trunk release button. The trunk opened but Luke wasn't in there either.

Sharon took a deep breath and looked around, glancing at the neighborhood. "Commander," she heard, breaking her train of thinking, and looked at Officer Hicks. "Both Nikki and Brutus's behavior are suggesting that Luke was here recently. There's no trail of him walking off the property, emphasis on walking," Officer Hicks explained.

"He could have been carried out," Sharon added. "Maybe, but I'll leave that to you guys," Officer Hicks said. "Thanks, can we call you if we need to conduct more searching of the area?" Sharon asked and Officer Hicks nodded yes. "We'd be happy to assist again, here's our direct numbers," Officer Hicks handed her his business card and they left.

Meanwhile, Andy, Julio, and the other patrol officers weren't having any luck upstairs in the rooms. "The kid's not here Lieutenant," Julio stated. "There's no attic and no other place to hide here," Andy added. They agreed and headed back downstairs and outside the house to meet up with Sharon and Amy.

"There's no sign of that kid anywhere in those rooms," Andy said to Sharon as he walked up to her. Sharon looked away, down the street. "Damn," she muttered under her breath. "Alright, since the mother is refusing to come down with us to give her official statement, Julio, you and Amy stay here with her, call me if anything happens," Sharon told them and started walking over to their car with Andy.

"Cynthia is coming to my office in about, 30 minutes or so," Sharon told Andy as she got into the car. Andy got in the driver's seat and started the car. "That kid's not there, Sharon," Andy said before he drove away. "I intend to find out what happened to him," she said, staring out the window.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 3

William Duffy sat in an interview room across the table from Mike and Provenza. Mike handed him a piece of paper and a pen. "We're going to need you to officially write down your statement," Mike told him. "How is that going to help find my son?" William asked as he took the pen from Mike. "This is just standard procedure Mister Duffy, that's all," Provenza told him and William started to write down his statement.

"What kind of job do you have?" Provenza asked, making small talk as William wrote. "I work at a factory, down by the railyards," William answered as he signed his name. He passed the paper on the table towards Provenza. "Why aren't you out looking for him or calling people, you know, like how they do it on tv shows," William stated.

Mike and Provenza looked at each other. "Uh, Mister Duffy this is not a tv show, and we do things differently here," Provenza said to him. "Is there anyone who would take your son?" he added as William sat there. "No, no, I don't think so. I mean who would want to take a 6-year-old from his home?" William answered him. "Do you or your wife owe anyone money, or anything like that?" Mike asked him.

"No, we're struggling but we make do," William answered and started to slump down on his chair. "Does your wife work?" Provenza asked. "No, she stays at home, most of the time, watching Eric," William answered. "Why doesn't Luke stay home then?" Provenza pushed further. "Because he goes to day care, for you know school and learning things there," William answered him.

"Which day care does he go to?" Mike asked. "Happy Children, off of Broadway in Lincoln Heights," William answered. "That's a little far from where you reside, Mister Duffy," Provenza stated. "It's close to where I work, so I take him in the mornings and drop him off there before going to work, then I pick him up on the way home," William stated.

Sharon and Andy arrived at the office just as Cynthia was walking down the hallway. "Commander, Lieutenant, am I to understand that Luke Duffy is missing?" Cynthia asked as they all walked into the Murder Room. "It looks that way, yes," Sharon answered her. "Let's talk in my office," she added. "I'll go see how Provenza and Mike are faring," Andy informed them and walked over to Electronics.

Sharon opened her office door and opened the blinds. "Please have a seat," she gestured to Cynthia who sat down on one of the chairs across from Sharon's desk. "How do you know Luke Duffy?" Sharon asked as she sat down at her desk.

"He's been in the system, not as a foster child but his parents had some issues," Cynthia told her. "What kind of issues?" Sharon asked. "Narcotic issues, mostly meth, they were clean 6 months ago and Luke was placed back in their home," Cynthia explained as Sharon sat there, imagining the situation.

"What about Luke's younger brother, Eric? Was he placed in a foster home as well?" Sharon asked. "Yes, they were in the same foster home," Cynthia answered her as she looked through the file she had brought with. "Do you have any leads?" she asked.

"No, none right now, other than we had two K9 officers run their dogs at the house and they alerted to Luke's scent in the house, in the mom's car, and the backyard, but there was no trace leading anywhere off the property," Sharon told her.

"Who released the children back into the parent's custody?" Sharon asked as she leaned forward in her chair. "The case worker, Molly Reynolds," Cynthia answered and looked at Sharon. "You know as well as I do that if the parents test clean and have been clean for 6 months, the children go back to them unless there are other issues," Cynthia added, knowing what Sharon was thinking.

"That's the system," she added. "I know," Sharon stood up and walked over to the door. "Not everyone is as lucky as Rusty and Matthew are," Cynthia added as she was still sitting. "If you can leave me his case work, I'd like to go over it, maybe there's a clue in them," Sharon asked Cynthia. "Sure, I can leave it for you," Cynthia said and placed the file folder on Sharon's desk before standing up and walking over to the door.

"I do hope you find Luke," Cynthia added before stepping out into the Murder Room. "The mother doesn't want to cooperate but the father is here giving his statement to us," Sharon said as she walked Cynthia towards the outside door. "That doesn't surprise me, I think the father was willing to cooperate with us when we took Luke and Eric the first time," Cynthia added.

"The first time? How many times did Luke and Eric go into foster care?" Sharon asked. "Three times," Cynthia stated. "I do hope you find him," she added as she left the office. Sharon shook her head slowly and then turned around and walked towards her office, picking up the file folder that Cynthia left her, and then walked towards Electronics to see how Provenza and Mike were doing with the father.

"How are we doing?" Sharon asked as she walked through the door to Electronics. "He wrote down his statement earlier and was giving Lieutenant Provenza and Lieutenant Tao and hard time but he's seems to have calmed down now and is cooperating," Buzz informed her as she took the seat next to him and sat down, reading the file as she did.

"What did Cynthia have to say?" Andy asked her as he stood behind her. "That Luke and his brother, Eric, were in foster care three times before DCFS handed them back to Claudia and William," Sharon huffed, annoyed by that fact. "Oh, geeze," Andy sighed.

"Why would DCFS take the kids three times?" Buzz asked as he saw Provenza and Mike stand up in the interview room. "Drugs played a part, Buzz," Sharon said, noticing her Lieutenants were leaving the interview room.

"Commander, we have Mister Duffy's statement here. Doesn't say anything different from what he told us earlier in the day," Provenza informed her. "But now it's official," Sharon nodded. "Okay, Mister Duffy is free to leave, he can return home. I would like a grid search conducted in the area of the home," she told them. "I want to know where this kid could be," she added.

"Commander, if there is no sign that the kid was abducted, then what else are we to assume but the parents?" Provenza stated. "Yes, Lieutenant, I'm well aware of that, especially learning that they both have a history of drug abuse," Sharon said, rubbing her head with her hand. "Let's talk to the day care where Luke attends and see if they can tell us anything we don't know," she added.

"I'll call the academy and get some recruits out with me to conduct a search of the neighborhood," Mike said and Sharon nodded. "Meet up with Detective Sykes and Sanchez," she told him. He left the room in order to make his phone call. "I'll let Mister Duffy know he can leave, are we giving him a ride home?" Provenza asked as he stood by the door.

"No," Sharon thought about it but decided it was best if William found his own way home. She wanted to see if he was truly distraught over his missing son or not. Andy gave Sharon a surprised look and so did Provenza. "Okay," Provenza mumbled and walked out of the room, and headed to the interview room to let William Duffy leave.

"Sharon?" Andy called her name in a way that sounded like he was questioning her decision about not giving William Duffy a ride home. "Andy, we need to see what he does," Sharon said, looking at the screen to the interview room. Andy watched as well, along with Buzz.

"So, he's just leaving without a fuss?" Buzz asked as they watched William Duffy walk out of the room. Buzz switched cameras to the hallway and it showed William walking out of the Murder Room and over to the elevators.

"If our kid was missing, and I was called down to make a statement, and the police told me I could go, I wouldn't leave that easily," Andy said as Provenza walked back into Electronics. "Well, I couldn't tell if he was mad we were letting him go or relieved," Provenza stated.

"The same could be said with Claudia, not cooperative just enough to either be a distraught mother or a suspect," Sharon said as she leaned against the chair in front of her. "Provenza and I will go to the day care, and ask around see if anything pops up," Andy told Sharon. "Good, I'm going to call Amy and see how things are going at the house," Sharon nodded to the two of them. "Buzz, you're coming with us," Provenza pointed to him as they were walking out of the room.

"Ugh, do I have to sir?" Buzz stated as he grabbed his camera. "Buzz, have you forgotten who your training officers are?" Provenza answered him. "No sir, it's just every time I'm with the two of you, something bad happens," Buzz said as he grabbed his camera and followed them. Sharon smiled at the three and walked into her office.

She placed the file folder on her desk. She read enough about Claudia and William and was upset that DCFS would return Luke and his brother back to them. The words that Cynthia said in her office kept playing over in her mind. 'Not everyone is as lucky as Rusty and Matthew'.

She picked up her phone to dial Amy but was startled when it rang. She looked at the caller id and saw that Amy was calling her. "Detective Sykes, is there an update by you?" Sharon answered the phone. "Sorry to bother you, Commander, but apparently Claudia Ramsey called a lawyer and he just arrived at the house," Amy informed her.

"A lawyer?" Sharon repeated. "Yes ma'am," Amy stated as she watched the lawyer talking to Claudia from inside the house. "Are the police searching for her missing child or are they just sitting here watching my client?" the lawyer spoke loudly to Sanchez. "We are doing what we can, sir, you need to calm down," Sharon heard Julio say to the lawyer.

"What do you want us to do?" Amy asked Sharon. "Lieutenant Tao is on his way over to your location and he is coordinating a grid search of the area. He's getting recruits from the academy as well to help out," Sharon informed her as Amy watched the scene inside the house. "Lieutenants Flynn and Provenza went to the day care where Luke attends to see if there's any clues there. A little bit of background, DCFS did take away the children 3 times due to narcotics being involved," Sharon added.

"Do you want us to search the house for any narcotics use?" Amy asked her. "No, we'll need a warrant for that search. I want to focus on finding Luke right now," Sharon said. "Okay, we'll keep you informed if anything changes," Amy stated. "And, by the way, the husband should be coming back home, we released him about 20 minutes ago," Sharon added. "10-4," Amy said and hung up the phone.

The lawyer was still giving Julio a problem as Amy walked over to where they were standing in the living room. "I'm sorry I didn't catch your name?" Amy said to the lawyer. "Steven Donaldson," the lawyer stated. "Mister Donaldson, I'm not sure why you are here as this is a missing child case and we are doing our job trying to find Luke," Amy stated and Steven Donaldson didn't want to listen to her.

"Well it sure doesn't look like it, and as for me being here, I have been retained by Claudia Ramsey as her lawyer," Steven told her. "You mean both Claudia Ramsey and William Duffy, right?" Julio asked as he stared at Steven. Steven did a double take as he looked over at Julio standing by him. "Of course, I've been retained by the family during this crisis," Steven said and returned back to the couch where Claudia was sitting currently.

Amy and Julio stepped out of the house when they saw Mike pull up in front in his car, along with several other squad cars. "How are they able to afford a lawyer like that?" Julio muttered to Amy as they walked down the walkway to meet up with Mike.

"Anything new going on?" Mike said as he stepped around his car, holding photos of Luke. "The family has a lawyer now," Amy told him. Julio saw William Duffy walking down the street towards him, and he did not look happy. "Thanks for giving me a ride back to my house," William said in a gruff as he passed them and went up towards the house.

William entered the house and noticed Claudia was sitting on the couch with another guy. "Honey you're back, this is Steven, I hired him as our lawyer," Claudia told him. "Why would you do that?" William asked her. "Because, honey, I think we need one to help us," she said in a low voice. William glanced over to Steven and nodded okay.

"I think we need to go to the media and get word out that your son, Luke, is missing. They can help spread the word better than the police out there," Steven suggested. Both Claudia and William agreed and Steven started to dial some numbers on his phone.

Meanwhile, back at the office, Sharon was reading Luke's file and was looking into the background of Claudia and William when Chief Howard knocked on her door. "Come in," she said, not looking up. Chief Howard walked in. "Commander, I understand Major Crimes caught a case of a missing kid?" Chief Howard said as he stood in front of her desk.

"Chief Howard, I'm surprised to see you here," Sharon said. "Yeah, well I'm covering while Chief Mason is out of town," Chief Howard informed her. "Yes, we caught a missing child case, there's something odd about this one though, parents said last time they saw him was 9pm last night when they tucked him into bed," Sharon started to inform him and then handed him the report from the husband.

"This is from the husband?" he said as he read it. "Yes, the mother seems reluctant to cooperate. I thought she was nervous and wanted to stay home to see if Luke returned, this morning, but the more I read about her, and her husband, and the DCFS report, I have my doubts," Sharon told him.

"What do you need?" Chief Howard asked as he sat down on the chair in front of Sharon's desk, still looking over the report. "Lieutenant Tao was able to secure recruits from the academy to aid in a grid search of the area surrounding the house. Amy and Julio are also there. Lieutenants Flynn and Provenza went over to the daycare where Luke attended to see if they can provide us with any clues into his disappearance," Sharon answered, sitting there with her hands folded on the desk.

"Since we have been to the house this morning, and the father came willingly down here to give his statement, the mother hired a lawyer," she added as Chief Howard was done reading the reports. "A lawyer? Is that a red flag?" Chief Howard raised his eyebrow as Sharon told him that fact.

"I'm not sure what to think of that right now," Sharon said. "There's been history of drug use by both of them, the boys have been taken away 3 times and placed into foster care while the parents had to go to jail, rehab, you name it. Each time, after 6 months of being cleaned, they get custody of the boys back," Sharon sighed, frustrated with how that system works.

"Do you want to declare a critical missing yet?" Chief Howard asked her. Sharon glanced at the clock in her office. Even though it has been less than the amount of time to officially declare someone missing, she needed to escalate this case as she feared for the safety of Luke.

"Given the fact that DCFS took the kids before and Luke's age, yes," Sharon told him.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

**A/N:** I just wanted to thank everyone for sending your reviews for this story. I really appreciate it!

Chapter 4

Andy stepped out of the car, followed by Provenza and Buzz and the three of them walked up to the child day care facility. Andy looked at the sign above the door. "Happy Children," he muttered to himself as he looked around the outside of the facility. "Come on Flynn," Provenza said as he opened the door and stepped inside.

The person at the front area looked up at them walking in and stood up from her chair. "Can I help you gentlemen?" she asked them as Provenza pulled out his badge to show her. "I'm Lieutenant Provenza, LAPD, this is Lieutenant Flynn," he said nodding to his direction.

"Do you know Luke Duffy?" Provenza asked her, as he showed her a picture of the boy. She looked at the both of them. "Yes, his father brings him here before he goes to work," she said. "He's not here this morning, his father never brought him," she added. "I'm Martha Quimby, I'm in charge of Happy Children," she told them.

"Can you tell us about the kid, have you noticed anything recently?" Andy asked her. She looked at both of them. "What's this about?" she asked. "Luke Duffy is missing, we're here trying to figure out where he could have gone to," Provenza told her.

"Oh my god," she said as she sat down on the chair behind her. "Luke is such a wonderful kid, why would he go missing?" she asked them. "When was the last time you saw him?" Andy asked. "Yesterday, his dad dropped him off, he was here the whole day, and his dad picked him up on the way home from work, just like normal," she told them. "Why would he be missing?" she asked again. "We're not sure, can you tell us anything unusual you've seen over the past couple of weeks, or anything at all?" Provenza asked her.

She thought back and stood up. "There was something that Luke had drawn but we dismissed it a few weeks ago," she said as she opened the door for them. Andy turned to Provenza before following the woman inside the day care facility. Provenza turned around before Buzz followed them. "Stay here Buzz, I don't think we will need to video anything," he told him and Buzz sighed, staying put.

There were several classrooms with children inside them. "How many kids come here?" Andy asked as they followed her to the far classroom on the left. "We currently have 80 children enrolled here, from ages 6 months to 6 years old," she told them as she opened the door to the room.

They followed her inside the classroom, and assumed it was the room where Luke spent his time playing and learning. There were 15 children playing with toys and sitting at small tables. Martha was speaking to another woman in the room, and she pointed to a cubby hole. Martha walked over with the other woman and introduced her to Andy and Provenza. "These are Lieutenants with the LAPD, they said Luke is missing and they wanted to know if we noticed anything different the past couple of weeks," Martha told the woman.

The woman then looked through Luke's cubby hole and pulled out some papers that had drawings on them. "Here, these are pictures that Luke drew a few weeks back, the assignment was to draw your family. Luke drew his brother and him, but then drew his father and mother far away in one picture," she handed the paper to Andy as he looked at the drawing.

"He then drew another picture, him and his brother, but his mother and father standing closer to them holding knives," she told them. "Did you ask Luke why he drew these pictures?" Provenza asked her. "We did, we were alarmed, and asked him about the pictures, he told us that the first picture was of when he and his brother were in foster care because of his parents," she said pointing to the picture that Andy held.

"And the second?" Provenza asked as he held that picture. "Luke said that sometimes his mother would threaten him if he didn't clean up his room," she told them. "Did you contact the authorities?" Andy asked her. She shook her head. "We spoke to his father when he came to pick him up and he told us that sometimes when Luke didn't behave, they had to discipline him but it wasn't anything like what Luke drew, plus we never saw any bruising or anything else on Luke to suggest otherwise," she said and Andy turned red and shook his head, walking out of the room.

Provenza looked at the two women. "Can we keep these pictures, it will help with our investigation," he said to them. "Of course," Martha said and followed Provenza out of the classroom. "Thank you for your time, we'll contact you if we need anything further," he added as he stepped out into the lobby. Buzz was still there but Andy wasn't. "Where's Flynn?" Provenza asked him. "He stepped outside," Buzz said and followed Provenza out of the building.

Provenza saw Andy pacing back and forth by the car. "Flynn?" he said as he watched his friend pace. "Can you believe this? They believe the kids father over the kid? There's something else going on here," Andy practically shouted at Provenza. "Hey Flynn, calm down! You're going to get yourself all worked up, I don't need you passing out on me," Provenza bantered him.

Meanwhile, at the house, William and Claudia sat on the couch with Eric as their lawyer spoke to Lieutenant Tao. "I contacted the media, they'll get us results far quicker than you guys will," their lawyer stated. "Go ahead and do that, sir, now if you'll excuse me, we have a missing kid to find," Mike told him and walked outside the house.

The recruits from the academy showed up and one of the instructors was speaking with Amy. Mike walked over to them. "Lieutenant, this is Captain Tully," Amy introduced them and they shook each other's hands. Mike pulled out a map of the area and pointed to where he wanted the recruits to start searching. He also handed out the pictures of Luke. "There's a park not too far from here, I also think we should look there as well," Mike said and Captain Tully nodded.

"My Commander also called K9 to come out again and search the park. They came out to the house this morning and didn't pick up any scents outside the yard or the front of the house, but that doesn't mean the child didn't wander off somewhere," Mike explained. "I'll get my recruits up there," Captain Tully stated and walked away towards the group of recruits.

"Go with them," Mike told Amy and she nodded and joined the group as they walked up the street. "Where do you think this kid is?" Julio asked as he looked around the neighborhood, as patrol car after patrol car pulled up to the house. "I don't know," Mike responded as they watched some patrol officers walk up to where they were standing.

Julio looked up in the sky and saw two LAPD helicopters flying overhead. "Your Commander called a critical missing, we were dispatched to help assist," one of the patrol officers told Mike. "Good, I want you guys to go to the back of the house, there's no fence so canvas the area starting from the back of the house and head north towards the hills," Mike told them, handed them a picture, and they nodded.

Just then a news van pulled up towards the house. Another patrol officer stopped them from getting too close. The family's lawyer stepped out of the house and started yelling at the officer. "Oh boy," Mike muttered as he looked at the situation and then at Julio. Julio smirked as he watched Mike walk over to the lawyer.

Meanwhile, back at the office, Sharon was sitting in her office with Chief Howard discussing how they wanted to proceed in this critical missing when Sharon's phone rang. She saw it was Provenza calling her. "Yes Lieutenant," she answered the phone. "Ah, Commander, we just left the day care place and apparently a few weeks ago, Luke had drawn some pictures depicting possible abuse," Provenza informed her.

"Did the day care facility report it?" Sharon asked as she looked at Chief Howard. "No, they didn't. Instead they asked the father what was going on and he told him some story about disciplining the kid," Provenza answered and Sharon sighed, rubbing her head as she listened to him. "Commander, between you and me, those parents have something to do with this," Provenza added.

"Yes, I'm with you on that, especially after Claudia Ramsey hired a lawyer," Sharon stated. "A lawyer! Why would they hire a lawyer?" Provenza quipped. Andy slowed the car and came to a stop at the red light. "A lawyer? Those dirtbag parents hired a lawyer?" Andy said and Sharon could hear him through the phone.

"Lieutenant, I want you, Lieutenant Flynn, and Buzz to join the rest of the team at the house and I will join you shortly there, oh and I declared this a critical missing," Sharon told him. "Will do," Provenza said and hung up his phone. Sharon turned to look at the Murder Board from her office when Chief Howard hung up his phone.

"That was dispatch, apparently LAPD helicopters intercepted a news helicopter on its way over to the child's house," Chief Howard informed Sharon and she nodded. "And, also, there's a news van that just pulled up to the area as well," he added. Sharon sighed. "Well, perhaps this will work to our advantage having media coverage," Sharon told him as she grabbed her purse.

"I'm meeting my team at the house. I think it's time for Claudia to cooperate," Sharon informed him. Chief Howard nodded. "What about their lawyer?" he asked her. "Call the DA's office, see who's on call. Hopefully it's Andrea," Sharon said and walked out of her office towards the elevators and headed down to her car.

At the DA's office, the phone was ringing and Rusty answered it. "District Attorney Office of Los Angeles, Andrea Hobbs office," Rusty said. "Rusty, this is Chief Howard from the LAPD," Chief Howard stated. "Oh, hey Chief Howard," Rusty cleared his throat. "Is Andrea on call today?" he asked Rusty. "Um, yes, she is, she stepped out of her office for a moment," Rusty said as he looked around the office to see where she went.

"Just tell her that Major Crimes caught a critical missing and we may need her at our office," Chief Howard told him without giving too many details. "Oh, uh, sure. I'll let her know as soon as she gets back," Rusty told him and then Chief Howard hung up the phone. Rusty placed the phone back in the receiver and stared at the phone. "Man, a critical missing," he whispered to himself.

Andrea walked back into her office and saw Rusty staring at the phone on her desk. "Rusty? Is everything okay?" she asked him as she stood there, looking at him. "Oh, uh, that was Chief Howard, he said that Major Crimes caught a critical missing and they wanted you to be aware, uh, they might need you at their office," Rusty told her. "Okay," she told him and walked around her desk, gesturing for him to move out of her chair.

She sat down at her desk and started looking over some briefs for a court appearance tomorrow. Rusty stood there watching her. "Rusty, could you get me the Davidson brief?" she asked him. "Uh, shouldn't we," he trailed off. "What? Head over to the LAPD? No, Major Crimes will call us again when they have someone in custody, besides, we need to brief for Monday's court," Andrea told him.

Andrea looked up at Rusty who was still standing there. "Rusty, the Davidson brief, please," Andrea asked him again and he turned around and walked to where the filing cabinet was and looked for the Davidson brief.

Andy, Provenza, and Buzz pulled up on the street where Luke resided and saw the news van. "Oh great, now the media's here, probably filming on why we aren't doing our jobs," Provenza grumbled. As Andy flashed his badge to the officer and proceeded to park the car by the house, Buzz saw a man in a suit talking with a reporter. "I'm guessing he's the lawyer?" Buzz stated as Andy turned the car off.

"Yep, I'd say so," Andy said as he stepped out of the car and headed over to where Mike and Julio were. "Any luck at the day care?" Julio asked as Andy stepped closer to them. "The kid drew some pictures that would be alarming to someone but they only asked his dad when he picked him up two weeks ago, he gave them some excuse," Andy informed them as he glanced up and saw William Duffy standing by the door.

"Mister Duffy, I have some questions for you, if you could come outside and answer them, it would be greatly appreciated," Andy told him through the screen door. "Don't say another word, William," Steven Donaldson walked over to the house, pointing his finger towards the direction of where Andy was standing.

"And you are?" Andy asked him. "I'm Steven Donaldson, I'm representing the family during this difficult time," Steven told him. "Yeah, difficult time. Their kid is missing and a lawyer shows up, how convenient," Andy muttered, loud enough for the lawyer and William to hear.

"I didn't call him, my wife did," William stated as he opened the door and stepped outside onto the front porch area. "William, don't talk," Steven stated to him. "Excuse me, uh, Lieutenant?" Steven said as he glanced at Andy's badge. "But I need to talk to someone who is in charge here, a little boy goes missing and the LAPD only sends Lieutenants out here?" Steven stated to Andy. Provenza was about to say something but Andy held up his hand.

"Steven, right? Well, it just so happens that our commanding officer is on their way over here now. They were here this morning when this was first reported so I would watch what you say to us, for your sake, Stevie boy," Andy told him and Steven was staring at him. Andy gave him a smile and walked away.

Twenty minutes later, Sharon pulled up in her car and was allowed entry by the patrol officer who waved her through. She couldn't believe the crowd of people that had formed. There was not one news van but two other news vans that had set up their cameras in the media zone.

Provenza walked over to her car as he saw her pull up to the scene. "Ah, Commander, this lawyer person is getting out of control, Mike and Julio are helping with the search of the backyard. And I sent Flynn with Buzz to go over to Debs Regional Park, he was pissing off the lawyer so before anything happened, I diffused the situation," he informed Sharon as she stepped out of her car.

She wasn't happy to hear that he had to send Andy off site as she was hoping that the two of them would be able to talk to the parents together. "Fine, Lieutenant, I want to speak to Claudia again," Sharon said, stepping towards the house. "Uh, I'm not sure that's going to happen with their lawyer being here," Provenza informed her.

Sharon walked up to the front porch of the house and knocked softly on the screen door before stepping inside. Steven walked right over to her. "I'm sorry the family isn't," he trailed off when he saw Provenza behind Sharon. "Oh, Steven, let me introduce you to our Commander, Sharon Flynn," Provenza stated.

"So, you're the commanding officer?" Steven asked her. "Yes, I am, and I'm assuming you're the lawyer," Sharon stated back to him. "Steven Donaldson," he told her. "Good, Mister Donaldson, I need to speak with Luke's mother, Claudia," Sharon started walking in the house towards the living room. "Ah, I don't think I can allow that, Commander," Steven walked after her.

Sharon stopped and turned around, staring at him. "Oh really? And why is that?" Sharon asked him. "Are you impeding a police investigation, Mister Donaldson?" she asked him. "No, I'm just trying to do what's best for my client," Steven told her. "Your clients' son is missing, I think its best if they cooperate," Sharon informed him.

Sharon turned around and walked into the living room where Claudia was sitting with Eric. "Claudia, I'd like to speak with you, if you don't mind," Sharon said and Claudia nodded. "Eric, can you go with this nice policeman and show him all of your toys in the back room?" Sharon asked Eric and pointed to a patrol officer. Eric got up and the patrol officer followed him.

"Have you found him yet?" Claudia asked Sharon. "No, we haven't," Sharon told her and she nodded, clenching her hands together. "Um, Claudia, are you still using?" Sharon asked her but Steven interrupted. "Claudia, don't answer that question!" he said to her. "What does that question have anything to do with Luke missing?" Steven asked Sharon.

"I'm asking that because it's relevant to the case, Mister Donaldson," Sharon told him. "I want to know if Claudia has been using again because if drugs are involved, then maybe her dealer took Luke because she couldn't pay him," Sharon said and looked at Claudia.

"Yes, I've been using here and there, but not since last week," Claudia told Sharon. "What type of drugs have you been using?" Sharon asked her. Steven Donaldson again protested the question. Sharon turned towards him. "Mister Donaldson, this is not incriminating otherwise I would have read her her rights," Sharon told him.

"Meth," Claudia said in a low voice. "What about your husband?" Sharon asked as William walked in to the room. "He had a drug test at work last week so we made sure he was clean for a while," Claudia told her as William sat down.

"Where do you get the meth from?" Sharon asked. "On the street," Claudia answered her. "Frankie wouldn't mess with Luke," Claudia added. "Who's Frankie?" Provenza asked. "My cousin, he gave me the meth," Claudia stated.

Sharon stood up and motioned for Provenza to follow her. "I want an APB out on this Frankie, I want him picked up and brought downtown for questioning," Sharon told him. "Keep officers here at the house, I want to know what goes on here," she added and he nodded.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 5

Sharon was in her office and called Andy, wanting an update on the search at Debs Regional Park. "Officers Rogers and Hicks are running their dogs in opposite areas of the park, so far nothing Sharon," Andy informed her. "We got a name on a possible person of interest, a meth dealer, and Claudia's cousin," Sharon told him, glancing at her watch, it was now closer to 3, and she was back at the office.

"Provenza put an APB out on him and called narcotics to see if they have any Frankie's in their system" she added. "I'm also going to call Nicole and ask if she can pick up Matthew and bring him back to their house," she told him. "That's a good idea, Shar, who knows how long we'll be out here searching for this kid," he told her as he looked out into the open space of the park. There were officers and recruits every few feet searching for Luke.

"The media came out with a story on Luke, and surprising it's actually shows us in a positive light," Sharon said over the phone as she clicked off the television. "Your helicopters flew over and were circling for about a half hour, but they disappeared," Andy said. "Probably went back to re-fuel," Sharon added and Andy nodded in agreement.

"How are you doing?" he asked her, knowing she had a headache earlier in the day. "I'm fine, Andy," she answered him, too quickly for his liking. "I heard you got into it with the lawyer for the family earlier," she said, changing the topic. "Uh, I wouldn't say I got into it with him, he was being an idiot and I tried to set him straight, that's all," Andy defended himself.

"So much, that Provenza had to send you away?" she teased him and he was speechless. "Andy, I don't want you getting into fights with lawyers, even if they are idiots, okay? We need to find this boy and I'm afraid we might be too late," Sharon told him.

"What are you thinking, Sharon?" he asked her, stepping away from officers to get a more private setting. "I don't know for sure yet, we need to go over everything we encountered this morning, at the daycare, at the house, and out during the searches. I'm going to need everyone back here," Sharon informed him. "I'll notify everyone," Andy said and hung up with Sharon.

Sharon had called Nicole and she told her it wasn't a problem picking Matthew up with the boys and bringing him back with her. She told Sharon that the boys were going to after school care and would be there with Matthew until she picked all of them up around 4:30. Sharon then texted Rusty and asked him, once he got home, to let Moxie out and feed him.

An hour later, the team started arriving back at the office. Buzz walked in with his camera and sat down at his desk. Sharon came out of her office at the first sign of her team entering the Murder Room. "Buzz, I'd like you to set up the footage of what you filmed today, from this morning to this afternoon, I'd like to go over everything," Sharon told him. "Of course, Commander. I'll set it up in the RACR room," Buzz said as he stood up and walked out of the room.

Sharon watched him walk away and then turned her attention to Amy and Julio. "I heard from my friend in Narcotics, ma'am, and they don't know of a Frankie that sells meth in Montecito Heights," Julio told Sharon as he sat down at his desk. "I'll run him in our databases and see what I can find," he added as he started typing on his computer.

"Amy, anything on your end?" Sharon asked her. "No, I was with Captain Tully and his recruits from the academy, we searched from the house up the neighborhood to the 110 freeway, there's no sign of Luke in that area," Amy informed her. Sharon nodded and looked at a map on the Murder Board. They had marked off where Luke's house was and marked a search area for the child.

"Lieutenants, do you have anything you'd like to share?" she said as Mike, Andy, and Provenza walked back into the office. "Yeah, here are the drawings that Luke did at the day care facility," Andy handed her the pictures and Sharon looked them both over. It broke her heart what this child went through, to look at these drawings knowing the problems that this child and his brother had gone through with his parents and DCFS, she shook her head as she looked them over. She placed them on the board and turned around.

"Julio and I walked with patrol officers from behind the house up the hills to Debs Regional Park, and we didn't see anything," Mike told her. "K9 was there and they didn't pick up any of the kid's scent at the park, we walked around the perimeter of the park and did a diagonal search from one end to the other, no scent or anything," Andy added as he took a seat at his desk.

"We covered that whole area, with drones, with helicopters, and K9, and we can't even come up with a clue," Andy added, sounding irritated to say the least. Everyone was feeling frustrated and knew the longer the child went missing, the lesser they would be found alive.

"The parents think he wandered off or was kidnapped, but I'm not leaning towards that anymore," Sharon stated as she looked at the pictures on the board. "What facts do we have?" she asked her team.

"This morning the two K9 Officers stated that their dogs picked up Luke's scent inside the house, in the yard, and in the front of the house, particularly by the car," Amy stated and Sharon wrote down the notes on the board. "Right, but the car was opened and there was no sign of Luke," Sharon stated. "K9 stated that there was no scent of the kid walking off of the property," Amy added.

"So, what if he didn't walk off on his own? What if he was carried, from the house to the car?" Mike added. "See, it's always the parents!" Provenza stated, happily. "Something was off when I arrived at the scene. The parents have been acting weird the whole entire time," Provenza added.

"Yes, Lieutenant, I agree with that, but are they suspects?" Sharon stated, circling their DMV pictures on the board. "Yes!" Provenza stated, sure of his assessment. "What else do we have?" Sharon asked the team. Julio walked over to the printer and picked up the photo that he had printed of Frankie. He deposited a nickel into the jar on Provenza's desk before putting the photo up on the board.

"Here is Frankie Ramsey, he has a rap sheet about a mile long, mostly petty stuff, stealing, shoplifting, but nothing on narcotics," Julio stated. "He lives about a block away from Luke's house. We actually covered his house in the area search today without knowing it," Julio added as he sat back down at his desk.

Buzz walked back into the Murder Room. "Commander, everything is set up and ready to go," Buzz informed Sharon. "Thank you Buzz," Sharon said. Mike stood up and walked over to the RACR room, followed by Julio and Amy. Provenza was looking at the Murder Board as Sharon walked over to Andy's desk.

"You okay?" she whispered to Andy as he sat there, staring at his computer. "I started running the financials of Claudia Ramsey and William Duffy, we'll see what comes up," Andy sighed. He stood up from his desk and saw Provenza walking towards the RACR room. He turned to Sharon. "I think the parents had something to do with this too," he told her.

"If we name them as our suspects, were not going to get anywhere with them. They already have a lawyer," Sharon said. "Yeah, which is odd don't you think?" Andy interjected. "That says guilty all day long," he added. Sharon grabbed his left hand with her right hand. "We need to focus on finding Luke," Sharon told him.

They both walked towards the RACR room as Sharon's phone alerted her to a text message. She looked down at her phone and saw that Nicole had picked up Matthew from school. She quickly sent off a reply message and continued walking with Andy. "Nicole took Matthew home with her and the boys," she told him. "Good," Andy sighed and the door opened to RACR and he let Sharon walk in first before following her.

"Alright Buzz, let's see what we can find on these videos," Sharon told Buzz and he pressed play as Sharon and Andy took their seats at the table.

Meanwhile, back at William and Claudia's house, Claudia looked outside the window and saw several patrol cars still out front. "I feel like a prisoner in my own house," she said to William as he walked by. William looked at her. "You better get used to it," he told her in a low voice. "What do you mean by that?" she asked him. "They're not going to find his body," Claudia whispered to him. William shook his head. "I don't know how much longer I can put up this charade," he gritted his teeth.

Steven walked into the living room and saw the two of them talking. "The channel 7 news wants to interview you," he told them and they both looked at each other. "We can do it outside, I don't want them inside the house," Claudia told him. Steven nodded and stepped back outside the house. He walked over to the news crew and informed them. They started setting up outside the house.

Claudia walked over to where Eric was sitting at the kitchen table, coloring with his crayons. "Now are you going to be a good boy for momma?" she asked him. "Stay here with the nice policeman while your momma and dada step outside for a few minutes," she said and he kept coloring. The patrol officer watched Claudia leave before he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Central.

"Hey, it's Officer Hudson, just inform the Watch Commander that channel 7 news is interviewing the parents of the missing kid," he said in the phone. "Well I don't know if they want to be alerted to anything like that but just tell him," he added. "Thanks," he said and hung up his phone.

Back in the RACR room, the team was watching the film showing Luke's bedroom that he shared with Eric. The film showed Buzz panning through the room one time and then slowly making his way to every portion of the room, including the closet.

"If Luke was abducted, there was no sign of a struggle or no sign of anything by the window, nothing in the room," Mike stated as they watched the screens. "Mike, did we search all the bathrooms of the house?" Sharon asked him. He turned around in his chair. "I sprayed luminol in the bathroom in the hallway that was shared by the two boys and in the bathroom that was in the parents' room, nothing showed up," Mike answered.

"Okay so maybe they didn't bludgeon the kid in the bathroom but there's got to be something else here, people that we are missing!" Provenza stated. "Lieutenant, why are you so caught up that the parents did it?" Amy asked Provenza. Provenza stared at her, giving her an 'are you kidding me' look.

"Seriously Sykes?" Andy chimed in. "There's no sign of the kid anywhere in the house or outside, both kids have been taken by DCFS before due to the parents using drugs, and they call a lawyer," Andy stated. "Well, what do you think happened, Lieutenant?" Amy asked Andy. "You really want to know what I think?" Andy asked her and she nodded.

"I think the mom got so high one night that she took the kid somewhere and left him there, and didn't report him missing until a few days later and the husband is covering it up too," Andy suggested. "You said it that one of the K9's alerted to the car in the driveway," he added. "Yeah but the dad took the kid every day to day care, that could have been from that," Amy added.

"Well then what do you think happened, Sykes?" Andy asked her. "Maybe this Frankie guy abducted him for payment from selling narcotics to the mom?" Amy suggested. Both Andy and Provenza said "Yeah right," in unison. Amy rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, everyone," Sharon interrupted them before things got out of control.

"Besides, Central put out an APB on Frankie, so as soon as they pick him up, we can interview him," Sharon added as they watched the screens. "If he hasn't skipped town yet," Julio muttered. "Julio?" Provenza said. "Well, if Sykes's theory is correct and this Frankie guy took Luke for payment for narcotics, then if he was smart, he would skip town," Julio commented.

"So, both of you guys think this Frankie person is involved?" Andy asked Julio and Amy. "I just don't think he should be ruled out yet," Amy suggested. Andy glanced over at Sharon. "No one is ruling anyone out yet, everyone is a suspect, in my opinion," Provenza added and the team continued to watch the screen that was showing the backyard of the house.

"Wait a minute, back it up Buzz, a few frames," Sharon stated as she saw something on the screen. "What did you see?" Andy asked her as she stood up from her chair and walked over to the screens. "There's a difference here between the bushes and the grass," Sharon said as she pointed to the paused picture. "Play it forward, slowly Buzz," she told him and he went frame by frame.

On the screen, they noticed a darker color, almost black, under the bushes. "Is that from the sunlight?" Provenza asked. Mike looked at it closer. "No, it's a drainage area that is on the property," he answered, as he pushed his glasses back up on his nose. "And how do you know that, Tao?" Provenza asked him. "Because I saw it this afternoon while we were sweeping the area of the backyard all the way up to the park," Mike answered him. "It runs the length of the property, from the end of the street to the other," he added.

Sharon moved away from the screens and back to her chair, but she didn't sit down. "How big is this drainage area, Mike?" she asked him. "It's a trench so I would say 2 feet across," he answered her. "And was there water in the draining trench when you did your sweep of the area?" she asked. "No, it was dry," he said.

"When was the last time it rained?" Sharon asked anyone who knew the answer. "Not recently," Amy answered. "Would you be able to follow this trench to a river, possibly?" Sharon asked. "No, the LA river is on the other side of Interstate 5, nowhere near the area," Mike answered her. "But there is a tributary that runs the length of the 110," Mike added. "Does the trench lead to a sewer?" Andy chimed in.

"I'd have to pull up the maps on my computer," Mike said and walked out of the RACR room. As he walked back into the Murder Room, Chief Howard walked in the other door. "Where is everyone?" he asked Mike. "In RACR," he said and Chief Howard went towards the RACR room. He swiped his ID card and the doors opened.

"Chief Howard, what a pleasant surprise," Provenza stated as he turned to look who had entered the room. "Ah, Commander, can I talk to you over there," Chief Howard asked Sharon and pointed to the corner of the room. Sharon walked with him over to the corner and wondered what was going on.

"I just got word from Central that the parents of Luke Duffy were interviewed by channel 7 news and they plan on airing it on the 6 o'clock news," Chief Howard told Sharon. Sharon glanced at the clock. It was almost 6 now. "Buzz, can you turn on channel 7 for the news," she told Buzz and he did.

One screen on the board showed the news from channel 7 while the rest of the screens had the video footage they were watching. "What's going on?" Andy asked. "Apparently, the parents of Luke Duffy were interviewed for the news tonight," Sharon said as she sat down next to Andy.

"Maybe they will give us some answers that they wouldn't be able to give us, or want to give us?" Julio stated. "Maybe," Sharon said as they started to watch the news.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 6

"Well, turn it up Buzz so we can hear it!" Provenza stated as the news was about to start.

"_And we are just bringing you some more information on the breaking news story we first reported to you earlier today. Luke Duffy has been missing from his home since last night. His parents agreed to be interviewed by our Jack Staton and he has their story. Jack?" Linda, the news reporter, said. _

"_Thank you, Linda. The parents of Luke Duffy are with me this evening, William Duffy and Claudia Ramsey. Now, tell me, you noticed Luke was gone this morning?" Jack asked both William and Claudia as they stood by him outside the house. "Yes," Claudia answered. "And what did you do?" Jack asked them. "Well, uh, we looked all over the house for him and then when we couldn't find him, we called the police," William stated. _

"_And what happened then?" Jack continued the interview. "They came out and have been searching for him since," Claudia answered. "Now I understand that you, William Duffy, were taken downtown by the police this morning?" Jack asked. _

"Oh, here we go, the accusations are going to start flying," Provenza muttered. "Yeah, wonder where they found that out, the lawyer probably," Andy added.

"_They just wanted my statement, and we thought it best for Claudia to stay here with our other son, in case, Luke came back," William stated. "Do you have anything to say, in case Luke is watching somewhere?" Jack asked them. _

"_Luke, please come home. We love you very much. Uh, you're not in trouble, your mom and I are just worried to death, please come home," William stated and the video camera panned back to Jack. "A plea for a kid to come home, back to you in the studio," Jack said and the camera cut back to the news team in the studio. _

"_If anyone has any information regarding the disappearance of Luke Duffy, please call the LAPD at 213-555-5141, or you can call the studio at 213-555-4313. In other news…"_ Linda started talking and Buzz muted it.

"So, the public is going to call the Missing Persons number, and what, we're just expected to get any leads that come in from them?" Provenza stated as he turned around to look at Chief Howard. "Lieutenant, I was told that Missing Persons would feed any significant calls about Luke Duffy over to Major Crimes," Chief Howard told him and the rest of the team in the RACR room. "Everyone, lets see what Mike came up with, and we can break for dinner," Sharon told them and they all stood up and walked back to the Murder Room.

Andy walked with Sharon back into the Murder Room. She saw Mike printing out something from the printer. "Tao, what did you print out?" Provenza wondered as he saw paper after paper being printed. "I found the schematics of the sewer system area by Luke Duffy's house," Mike said as he walked over to the Murder Board and started putting them up on the board. He completely ignored Provenza and his change jar as he walked past him.

"There is a sewer line that runs from the street down to Homer Street, which runs along the tributary of the LA river, but it doesn't look like the sewer line connects to that part of the river," Mike explained as he showed the line on the map to everyone.

"Is the entryway to the sewer from the trench big enough for a 6-year-old child to fit through, Mike?" Sharon asked him. "Hard to say from the map, we'd have to see it in person," Mike said as he stood by the Murder Board.

"Mike, you, Andy, and Julio, head out to this sewer location," Sharon told them. "Buzz, bring your camera and go with them," she added. Mike grabbed another set of maps he had printed out and then grabbed his suit jacket off of his chair. Andy grabbed the car keys. "You'll have about an hour left of daylight," Provenza told them. All four of them left the office and headed towards the parking garage.

"Traffic shouldn't be too bad now, we should get to the location with plenty of time left for day light," Mike stated as they stepped out of the elevator and headed towards the cars. Buzz and Andy went together in the SUV while Mike and Julio went in the other car.

"Do you really think this child went into the sewer system?" Provenza asked Sharon as she looked at the map on the Murder Board. "Lieutenant, I'm just trying to rule out all other possibilities beforehand," Sharon told him. "And what if this sewer is big enough for a child like Luke to fit through, then what? Are you going to tear the sewer system of LA apart looking for him?" Provenza asked.

He was right, though. How far was she willing to take the search for this child? She stood there thinking about it. If any of her children disappeared, she wouldn't stop until she found them. She told that to Rusty a few years ago. But then she would also not be acting like the way Claudia is acting. And she would most definitely not hire a lawyer.

Meanwhile, at the house where Claudia and William live, there was a knock on the door. Officer Hudson heard the knock and walked over to the window to see who it was. Claudia looked up at William as he walked over to the front door. Officer Hudson opened the front door. "Who are you?" he asked the person at the door.

"My name is Molly Reynolds, I'm with DCFS, is Claudia or William here?" she asked Officer Hudson as she showed him her ID badge. "Why are you here?" Claudia shouted out towards Molly. "I heard that Luke was missing, I wanted to stop by and see what was going on," Molly told her as Officer Hudson stepped forward with Molly.

A half hour later, Mike, Andy, Julio, and Buzz found the sewer that led from the house to the main sewer line that ran under Homer Street. Even though there was still day light, Mike and Andy held out their flashlights and turned them on as they looked. The sewer grate had vertical bars going across it, but they weren't wide enough for an adult to fit through, but maybe a child could.

"I don't know sir; do you think Matthew could fit through this grate?" Julio said, asking Andy as they looked at the sewer and inside as far as the light from the flashlight shone. Andy looked at the sewer grate and shook his head. "I don't know, it would be a tight fit, but he probably could," Andy answered. "And Luke is much smaller than Matthew," Julio added as he looked at a picture of Luke.

Andy quickly took some pictures of the sewer area so he could send them to Sharon. He then looked around at the area. There was no sign that Luke had run away from home. So, would Luke even be down this sewer? Andy thought to himself as he stepped to the side to send the photos to Sharon.

Mike's phone rang and he answered it. "Lieutenant Tao, it's Captain Tully, I think the recruits and I are going to call it a night. We covered the park inch by inch and we would be glad to help in the search tomorrow," Captain Tully told him. "Okay, I'll let my Commander know, and thank you and the recruits for their help," Mike said and hung up his phone.

Sharon texted Andy back after he had sent the photos. "Thank you, do you think a child could fit through there?" she sent. "I think it would be tight but possibly?" Andy texted her back.

Mike took out a screwdriver drill from his bag and started to unscrew the screws holding the sewer grate. "Mike, what are you doing?" Andy asked him. "Well, if we are going to see if there's any signs of the kid going this way, we're going to have to go into the sewer, right?" Mike said, looking back at Andy and Julio as Buzz was filming the whole thing.

"It's about 3 feet high and 5 feet wide," Mike said as he shone the flashlight down the sewer. Mike started to move down the sewer drain. Andy looked back at Julio and Buzz. "Julio, stay here and stand guard. Buzz, either give me the camera for Mike or come with us," Andy told them.

There was very little water in the sewer drain that Mike and Andy were in. They crawled and made their way to the main sewer drain, which was bigger, and had more water flowing. Mike stopped at the intersection. Andy shone his flashlight down the area where the bigger drain went. "It smells like dead rats in here," Andy said as he knelt down on the concrete.

"I think we're going to need to call and have a sonar team come out here if the Commander wants us to check out the sewer," Mike said as he looked further down the drain. "We don't even know if the kid went this way," Andy stated. "Well, if he did, he got swept up by the water, no doubt," Mike added as his flashlight showed the water rushing through.

"Let's head back out," Andy told Mike and they started to head back where they entered. They crawled back out of the sewer and Julio helped them stand up. Mike handed Buzz his camera and Buzz looked it over. "Ugh, now my camera smells like a sewer," Buzz said, wrinkling his nose.

Mike placed the sewer grate back on and was using his screwdriver to secure it when Julio spotted someone coming towards them. "Oh no sir, I think the media is coming over here," Julio stated as Andy looked up and saw a cameraman and a news reporter heading towards them. "I'll handle this," Andy told them and walked over to meet the reporter.

The news reporter looked at Andy and his badge as he showed it to them. "Are you searching for Luke Duffy? Do you think he got in the sewer somehow?" the news reporter bombarded Andy with questions. "Okay, hold on just a minute!" Andy told the cameraman who was starting to film them.

"This is a LAPD investigation and we would appreciate it if you didn't interfere," Andy told them. "So, you are looking for Luke Duffy here?" the news reporter asked him. "We are covering all areas in the search of the missing boy," Andy answered him. "And are you in charge of the search?" the news reporter asked him. "I'm a Lieutenant with the LAPD, now please, can you guys get out of here so we can continue our investigation?" Andy said and the news reporter nodded his head. He and the cameraman left the area.

Andy turned around and shook his head. Mike was done securing the grate. He walked back over to them. "Here's what I think. If Luke ran away from home, judging from those pictures he drew at the day care place, he wouldn't have left his little brother there," Andy said to Julio, Mike, and Buzz.

"And there would be a lot of items missing from his room, like a backpack and that stuffed animal that was on his bed," Buzz stated to them. "I'll call the Commander and let her know we're on our way back," Andy stated to them and they walked back towards their vehicles. "We can stop at that taco place, Mama Cita's, on Main and 1st," Julio stated as they walked up the embankment.

"Hey it's me. We're done at the sewer location. Mike and I went inside to the sewer line, but I don't think he's down there," Andy told Sharon. He heard her sigh over the phone. "Okay, it's getting late, come back to the office," Sharon told him. "Oh, and I got you a salad, it's in the fridge here," she added. "Oh, uh, okay, the guys were going to stop on the way back and get something," Andy told her.

"Now you don't have to," Sharon told him and sensed the silence from Andy. "It's your favorite salad from Eduardo's across the street," she told him, optimistically. "No, that's fine, thank you," Andy chuckled. "See you in a bit," he added and hung up the phone.

By the time they got to their vehicles it was after 8 o'clock. The sun had set a half hour ago and nighttime was falling quickly on the city. Andy followed Julio as they drove through the streets to the restaurant. They parked along the curb and Andy placed the vehicle in park.

"Do you want something sir?" Buzz asked him as he got out of the vehicle. "Uh, no I'm good," Andy told him as he closed the door and joined Mike and Julio at the entrance to the restaurant. About ten minutes later, the three of them came out with their takeout bags and Buzz got back in the vehicle. "You sure you didn't want anything?" Buzz asked as Andy started the car.

"I have a salad waiting for me," Andy told him as they started to drive towards the PAB. Buzz chuckled as he looked out the window. "There's nothing wrong with eating a salad," Andy said. "Of course not, Lieutenant," Buzz said and smiled as he tried not to laugh again. Andy glared at him as they pulled into the parking garage.

Sharon was sitting in her office when Andy, Mike, Julio, and Buzz returned. She stood up when she saw Andy place something on his desk. She walked out of her office and joined him. "Hey," Andy said as he turned around and looked at her. "Oh my gosh, what is that smell?" she turned her nose and put her hand over her mouth.

"Probably from the sewer," Andy told her and sniffed his suit jacket. "What? It's not that bad," he said. "Okay, honey," she said clearing her throat. "Your salad is in the fridge," she said, patting his arm as she walked over to where Buzz and Mike were. Andy smirked as she walked away. He went into her office and took his salad out of the fridge in there and brought it back to his desk.

"Okay, so what can you tell me about the sewer?" Sharon said as she walked over to Mike and stopped. "Oh my gosh, you smell like the sewer too," Sharon quickly told Mike. "Sorry it couldn't be helped but if we're going to search it properly, we're going to need to call out a sonar team," Mike told her.

"I'll let Chief Howard know that, we'll probably revisit it tomorrow," Sharon said. "Can you print these pictures of the sewer?" she asked Mike and handed her phone to him. "Sure," he said as he clicked on the photos and then did a few other selections and the photos started printing on the printer. He handed her phone back to her.

She turned around and saw Andy eating his salad at his desk. Chief Howard stepped back into the Murder Room. "Commander, Missing Persons gave you guys some leads from the phone calls tonight," Chief Howard said as he handed some papers to Sharon. Sharon looked them over and handed them to Provenza.

"How late are you planning on staying?" Chief Howard asked Sharon. "Now that you gave us these leads, I'm not sure. I was planning on cutting everyone now, pick it up tomorrow morning," she told him. "Patrol called and relieved officers at the house, but they are stationed outside," he informed her and she nodded.

"You're checking the sewers too?" he asked as he glanced over the Murder Board. "Trying to cover all bases," she told him. "I think we are going to need to call out a sonar team to check the sewers leading to the river, just to be on the safe side," she added. "I'll call the diving search and rescue team, see if they can lend us a hand tomorrow, is that good?" he asked and she nodded. "Yes Chief, that would be great," she told him. He then left the room.

Provenza looked over the different leads that Missing Persons had given them. "This sounds like the person is high on something," he said and he tossed one of the papers aside. He then read another paper. "This one is not even close to the house, it's all across town, how would they know if they saw anything?" Provenza added. "Here, give me that one. I'll check it out," Andy said as he walked over to Provenza's desk. Provenza handed him the paper and he started to read it as he was walking back.

"Says here this tip came from some students at UCLA," Andy said as he sat back down at his desk. "There were like weird things happening not too far form campus, is what the tipster says?" Andy read further. Sharon looked over at him. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright everyone, it's late, go home and get some sleep, come back early tomorrow," Sharon told them as she rubbed her head with her right hand. "What do you want us to do with these tips?" Provenza asked her. "Put them to the side, we'll look at them tomorrow," she told him and then headed to her office. "Goodnight," she called out to them as she walked inside her office and sat down at her desk.

Provenza glanced at Andy, who was staring at Sharon inside her office. Provenza cleared his throat and looked at everyone else. "You heard the Commander, call it a night, come back fresh tomorrow morning," he told them as he rearranged the items on his desk into a pile.

Julio stood up, grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair and headed out. "Good night," he told them as he left. Amy followed him, and then Mike left along with Buzz, leaving Provenza and Andy in the office. "This is going to hit close to home," Provenza told Andy, as he glanced at Sharon, who was gathering her things in her office. Provenza walked out of the office, leaving Sharon and Andy there.

Andy walked over to the door and leaned against the frame. "Ready to go?" he asked her as she turned around and grabbed her things. "Yes," she said in an exhausted sigh. Andy wrapped his arm around her side and they walked out of the office towards the elevators.

They walked down to their car, and Andy held the door open for her to get in. "Are we picking Matthew up from Nicole's?" Andy asked her as she got in the car. "Who's going to watch him tomorrow?" she asked, looking up at him. "I'll take care of it," he told her, noting how tired she looked at the moment.

He closed her car door and pulled out his phone, dialing a number. "Hey sweetie, I know it's late. We're just leaving work. No, we haven't found him yet. Look, is it possible to watch Matthew tomorrow? We can pick him up tonight and bring him back tomorrow morning, that way he'll changed his clothes and everything, if it's not too much trouble," Andy told Nicole over the phone.

"The boys have something with the boy scouts in the afternoon but Matthew could come with," Nicole told him. "Great, we appreciate it, see you in a little bit," Andy told her and hung up the phone. He got inside the car and started the car.

"We're picking up Matthew now, but Nicole says he can hang out with them tomorrow, they have some scouting thing in the afternoon but Matthew can go with them," he glanced at her as he pulled the car out of the parking garage. She was sitting there, quietly, with her eyes open.

"Sharon?" he said her name and lightly touched her hand with his. "I'm sorry," she whispered, shifting in her seat. "Want to talk about it?" he asked as they sat at a red light. Sharon looked out her window. "Where is this child?" Sharon quietly spoke.

"I don't think we're going to find him alive," Andy confessed as he continued to drive. Sharon nodded in concurrence. "I have that feeling too," she told him. She took a deep breath. "I don't want to seem like your partner but I think Claudia was involved and William went along with it after it happened," she continued, squeezing Andy's hand as she closed her eyes.

Twenty minutes later, Andy was pulling into Nicole and Dean's driveway. "Stay here, I'll go get him," he told her as he shifted the gear into park and go out of the car. He knocked on the front door and Dean opened it, greeting him. "Hey Dean," Andy said as he shook the man's hand. "Andy, come on in," he said, stepping to the side.

"Hey Dad," Nicole came up and gave him a hug. "Hi sweetie," Andy said, kissing her cheek. "Ugh, Dad, you smell like a sewer," she turned her nose. "Sorry," he apologized. "He fell asleep on the couch. Here's his back pack," she said handing it to him. "Where's Sharon?" she asked. "She's in the car," he told her and she nodded.

She turned towards the couch and moved over there to wake Matthew up. "Matthew, Dad's here to take you home," she told him and he opened his eyes. He sat up from the couch and saw Andy was there waiting for him. He stood up and walked over to him, a little groggy from sleep still.

"Hi Dad," Matthew said as he walked over to him. "Hey kiddo, did you do your homework?" Andy asked him and Matthew nodded, rubbing his eyes. "See you tomorrow Matthew," Nicole told him as she walked them out. Matthew looked curious to Andy. "You're going to spend tomorrow here with them while Mom and I go to work," Andy told him.

"Bye Nicole," Matthew told her and got into the backseat of the car. "Thanks again," Andy told Nicole. "It's not a problem, Dad. Besides, when you told us you were adopting Matthew, we told you we would help anyway we could, so," Nicole shrugged her shoulders and blew a kiss good night to him. She waved to Sharon who waved back and she watched them drive away.

By the time they got home, it was after 11 o'clock at night. Matthew walked tiredly inside the house as Sharon and Andy followed him. Andy closed the door behind them and met them in the kitchen. Moxie greeted them there and Sharon was surprised to see Rusty was still at the house.

"Hey, I thought I would stay here and keep Moxie company until you guys came home," Rusty said to them. Matthew went upstairs and Moxie followed him. Rusty turned to Sharon and Andy. "So, you caught a critical missing?" he asked them.

"Yeah," Sharon told him as she placed her purse on the counter. "Thank you for staying here," she added. "No problem," Rusty answered. "Good night, Rusty," Sharon hugged him. She motioned she was going up to Andy as she walked out of the kitchen and towards the stairs. Andy nodded and glanced at Rusty who was still standing there.

"Do you know where this kid could be?" Rusty asked him as Andy stood at the island counter, taking his wallet out of his pocket and laying his keys on top. "No, but it doesn't look good," he said to him as he took a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with water. "Your mom and I are going to work, early, tomorrow, and we're dropping Matthew off with Nicole," Andy told him as he gulped the water down.

"I would appreciate it if you could take Moxie out a couple of times tomorrow," Andy asked. "Sure, I can do that," Rusty said and looked down the hallway. "Andrea is on call tomorrow, in case you guys need her," he added and looked again at Andy.

"Okay. Uh, well good night then," Rusty said as he walked to the back door and went out to his apartment over the garage. Andy watched him get inside and then he locked the back door. He turned off the kitchen light, leaving the light over the sink on, making his way to the hallway. He turned off those lights and headed upstairs.

Matthew and Moxie were already sleeping in Matthew's room. As he made his way up the stairs, he saw Sharon standing at the doorway to Matthew's room, watching him. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him as he rested his chin on her shoulder. He turned his head and kissed her neck.

"Come on, you're exhausted and we have an early day tomorrow again," he told her as gently tugged at her to follow him to their bedroom. She followed him, holding his hand as he led her to their room. He went to close the door but Sharon stopped him. "Don't close the door, please," she whispered to him and he nodded. "Okay," he told her and he watched her get undressed.

He took off his tie and his suit jacket and placed it in the laundry basket to take to the dry cleaners. After Sharon was done in the bathroom, he slipped in and took a quick shower to get the sewer scent off of him.

By the time he was ready for bed, Sharon was already sitting down on the bed, waiting for him. He settled in and motioned for her to join him, which she laid back into his arms and he held her. "Promise me, no matter what happens, we'll bring justice for Luke," she asked him as she closed her eyes. "I promise," he whispered into her ear, and kissed her head.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 7

The next morning, Andy rolled over and stretched his hand across the bed, searching for Sharon, but her side of the bed was empty. He opened his eyes and squinted to see the time on the alarm clock. It was 5:45 and Andy groaned as he sat up. He looked around the room but didn't see Sharon. He then glanced over at the balcony and saw that the blinds were slid open.

He stood up and grabbed his robe from the chair next to the bed and slipped his arms through it, wrapping it around his body. He made his way towards the balcony to see Sharon sitting on the chair, with a blanket wrapped around her. He wondered how long she had been out there as he slid the sliding glass door, opening it enough for him to slip outside and join her.

He reached down to touch her shoulder. "Sharon?" he whispered. She was awake and looked up at him as he called her name. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" she asked him as she scooted over on the chair to make room for him. "No," he said, sitting down and wrapping his arms around her. Even though she had a blanket around her, she felt cold to his touch.

"Geeze, you're freezing!" he told her as he moved her on top of him, wrapping the blanket around her and his arms around her too. She was now sitting on top of him, with her face buried between his right shoulder and neck. A few minutes later, she was starting to warm up. "How long have you been out here?" he asked her, holding her close to him.

"An hour, maybe?" she muttered into his neck. Andy shook his head. "Why," he said, barely above a whisper. He knew the answer the minute she didn't answer him. "Can we go inside, and warm you up a little bit more?" he asked her and she nodded. She scooched over and stood up, with the blanket still wrapped around her. He stood up and guided her back into their bedroom. She stood there as he closed the door to the balcony.

She climbed back into bed and he followed her. She settled back down against him and he held her. "We need to tread carefully when it comes to the parents," she told him, after a few minutes of silence. "Uh huh," was his response as he held her. "We need to get Eric out of there too," she added, like she was marking off a list in her head of all the things they needed to do. "I was thinking I would call Cynthia in the morning, have DCFS remove Eric from the home for well being concerns," she stated.

When she got no response from him, she noticed that he had already fallen back asleep. She sighed and took a deep breath. The alarm would wake them both up in an hour. She stared up at the ceiling as he held her.

The alarm went off an hour later, and Sharon blinked her eyes. She took Andy's hand, which was laying on her stomach and gently removed herself from his arms. As she sat up on the bed, he woke and rubbed his eyes. He wished at that moment that it would be any other Saturday so that they both could sleep in, but they had a job to do.

He groaned as he sat up and watched her walk away towards the bathroom. He stood up and stretched, before making his way to their closet. He pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans and a button-down grey shirt. He walked over to the dresser and opened the drawer where his t-shirts were located and pulled out a black t-shirt, a pair of boxers, and waited for Sharon to be done in the bathroom.

He heard her turn on the shower, and if it was any other time, he would have joined her. He decided to walk over to Matthew's bedroom and attempt to wake him up for their early departure. When he stepped into his room, he was greeted by Moxie wagging his tail and nudging his hand. "Hi Moxie," Andy whispered.

He walked further into the room and gently nudged Matthew's shoulder to wake him up. "Matthew," he said, above whispering to him. The kid stirred and turned over, his eyes still closed, holding onto his teddy bear. Andy said his name again, but this time, Moxie went over to Matthew and licked his face.

Matthew started to giggle as he opened his eyes, focusing on the dog. "Dad," he said, surprised to see him as he looked up. "Hey buddy, I know it's early but I need you to get up now," Andy quietly spoke to him. The kid stretched his arms and rolled back over in bed. Andy shook his head. Moxie jumped on the bed and started nudging his head underneath Matthew's arm.

"Moxie, stop that," Matthew mumbled but Moxie continued until Matthew sat up. "Come on, I'll help you pack a bag of clothes, you can stay in your pajamas," Andy said as Matthew turned around and sat on the edge of his bed.

Matthew rubbed his eyes as he stood up and walked to his dresser. He opened the top drawer, pulling out a t-shirt and then opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a pair of shorts. "You may want to bring some pants, and a sweatshirt too," Andy suggested as he held out a duffle bag for him to put the clothes in.

Meanwhile, Sharon finished her shower and was now in their bedroom getting dressed. She noticed Andy's clothes were laid out on the bed. She pulled out her pair of blue jeans, a black shirt, and her grey cardigan sweater to wear. She went back into the bathroom and got dressed.

Matthew walked out of his bedroom with his duffle bag and Andy followed him. "Take Moxie downstairs with you, but don't take him out, I'll do that when I get dressed," he told him as he watched Matthew take Moxie downstairs. "Your mom should be downstairs soon," he added, still watching him go down the stairs.

He shook his head, thinking of Luke as he lost sight of Matthew as he went downstairs. He turned and went back into their bedroom and saw the bathroom door was still closed. He lightly knocked on the door. "Sharon? You okay?" he asked her. "I'm just getting dressed," she said.

He grabbed his clothes and opened the bathroom door, peeking his head inside and saw Sharon was standing by the sink. He stepped fully inside the bathroom and placed his clothes on the counter by the tub. Sharon looked at him as she was fixing her hair.

"I woke Matthew and helped him pack a duffle bag with a change of clothes," he told her and she nodded. "I told him he could wear his pajamas and change later at Nicole's house," he added as he pulled his t-shirt over his head and took it off, tossing it on the floor.

"That's good," she said as she was finished and turned around to look at him. She walked over to him and he enveloped her in a hug. She laid her head against his chest. "I'll see if he wants anything for breakfast," she told him as he held her. He rubbed her back and she inhaled his old spice scent. She pulled away and kissed him on his lips before turning and leaving the bathroom.

Andy quickly finished getting dressed, throwing on the shirt and jeans. He ran out of the bathroom. Sharon was still there, putting on her grey cardigan sweater as he came flying out of the bathroom. She gave him a quizzical look as he came towards her.

He looked her over, stepping close to her, and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. Sharon wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, holding his head close to hers. She let out a hum as Andy broke their kiss. Both of them catching their breaths as they stood close to each other.

"Sorry, but when you kissed me in there, I had to kiss you again," he confessed to her. "That's quite alright," she smiled and fixed her sweater. "I'll see you downstairs," she told him and grabbed the rest of her things before leaving the room.

Andy sat down on the edge of their bed and put his socks on before grabbing his gym shoes and putting them on. He clipped his handcuffs, an extra magazine, and his gun to his belt before he put on his grey shirt. Grabbing his badge from the top of the dresser, he turned the light off in the room and headed downstairs.

Andy met Sharon in the kitchen as she was placing the coffee grounds into the coffee maker. "Where's Matthew?" he whispered into her ear. "He's sleeping on the couch, I asked him if he wanted something to eat but he gave me a mumbled 'no'," she told him, turning around in the spot she was standing in so that she could face him.

He looked into her eyes as she stood there, facing him. "I want to call Cynthia when we get into the office," she told him, reminding him of their early conversation. "I'm ready to go if you are," he told her, shrugging his shoulders. She nodded and saw that the coffee maker was done. "I'll fill your travel mug if you go get Matthew in the family room," she smiled. "Sure," he nodded and walked away from her.

Sharon turned her attention to the coffee maker and started to fill both of their travel mugs. She feared it was going to be a long day again today in the search of the missing child and was sure this was going to be the first of many cups of coffee for the both of them.

Andy walked into the family room and saw Matthew sprawled out on the couch, with Moxie next to him. "Hey buddy, time to go," Andy gently nudged Matthew's shoulder. He moved and started to wake up. He looked up at Andy through his sleepy eyes and rubbed them again before he stood up from the couch. Grabbing his duffle bag, he then walked towards the kitchen, Moxie and Andy behind him.

"Okay, let me take out and feed Moxie and then we can get going," Andy told both of them as Sharon gathered her things. Moxie followed Andy into the mud room and then the back door. Andy took him outside in the yard and Moxie did his duties there. Moxie then came back inside the house, into the mud room, and waited until Andy was finished putting his food in his bowl. Andy placed his food bowl on the floor. Moxie looked at Andy as he said "okay!" and Moxie started eating his food.

"I asked Rusty to come over during the day to let Moxie out," Andy said as he walked back into the kitchen. Sharon was holding Matthew in a hug and Andy stopped to watch her. Sharon held Matthew close to her and didn't hear Andy walk back into the room until she heard Moxie licking his dish, hitting it against the wall, making a noise. She looked up to see Andy standing there looking back at her. She smiled a small smile and Andy returned her smile.

She took a deep breath and released Matthew from her hug. "Ready to go?" she asked him and he nodded, sleepily. Matthew walked towards Moxie and ran his hand over his head. "Bye Moxie," he whispered to the dog as he kept walking towards the back door, with his duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

Andy and Sharon walked towards the back door, with Andy looking back at the dog. "Be good," Andy said and then closed the back door, locking it. Sharon was walking ahead with Matthew through the yard to the garage. Andy caught up with them and they all got into the car. Andy started it and backed out of the driveway, and headed towards Nicole and Dean's house.

As Andy pulled up to the house, Nicole was standing in the front doorway. She waved to them in the car and Andy waved back to his daughter. He glanced over at Sharon as he placed the car in park. She was writing down something in her notepad and stopped as soon as she heard the car door open. She glanced up to see Andy walking around the car. She took her seatbelt off and got out of the car herself.

Andy opened the back door of the car and unbuckled Matthew's seatbelt and woke him up. "Come on buddy, we're here," Andy said and Matthew started to get out of the car. Meanwhile, Sharon walked over to where Nicole was standing. "Morning," Nicole said to her. Sharon gave a half smile as she hugged Nicole.

"Morning," Sharon said as she stepped to Nicole's side. "Thank you for watching him today," she added as Matthew walked drudgedly up the walkway towards them, with Andy following behind him with his duffle bag. "No problem," Nicole said as she welcomed Matthew. She walked Matthew inside the house.

Andy and Sharon followed them inside and watched Matthew walk towards the couch in the family room. Matthew laid down on the couch and Sharon draped a blanket over him, kissing his forehead. "I hope you find this missing boy soon," Nicole said as her father stood there, watching Sharon. "I hope so, too," he mumbled to her.

When they arrived at the PAB, Sharon and Andy walked into the Murder Room and it was already bustling with officers and detectives. Sharon looked around and saw Provenza as he was sitting at his desk, on the phone. "Ah, Commander, we got a head start this morning," he told her as he hung up the phone.

"And Cynthia is waiting in your office for you," he added as he pointed in the direction of her office. "Thank you, Lieutenant," Sharon told him and walked towards her office. Andy watched her and then walked towards Provenza. "How long have you guys been here?" he asked his friend.

"About an hour," Provenza said as he sipped on his coffee. "I got Sanchez working on another lead from one of the neighbors," he added. Andy looked around the room. "Tao is working on getting the sonar team to look into the sewer systems," Provenza told him.

Meanwhile, in Sharon's office, she sat down and was speaking with Cynthia. "Molly Reynolds went to Luke's house last night," Cynthia informed her. "I'm glad you said that because I think we need to remove Eric from that house," Sharon said. "Are you thinking the parents are suspects in Luke's disappearance?" Cynthia asked. "I'm leaning towards that, yes," Sharon folded her hands on her desk as she looked at Cynthia.

Sanchez walked into the Murder Room with an older lady, and as he did so, both Andy and Provenza looked up at the new guest. "Oh, uh, Detective Sanchez, who is this nice lady?" Provenza put on his old charm, which made Andy roll his eyes.

"Sir, this is Mrs. Davies, she lives across the street a few houses down from Luke's home," Sanchez introduced them as Provenza stood up from his desk and made his way towards them. Mrs. Davies stood there, cane in her left hand, as Provenza greeted her.

"Hello Mrs. Davies, I'm Lieutenant Provenza," he said to her, holding out his hand to shake her right hand. "Oh, why aren't you a handsome one," Mrs. Davies teased as she shook his hand. "Oh my god," Andy mumbled under his breath as he watched the interaction happen before him.

"I was following up on a lead and Mrs. Davies stopped me as I was in the hallway asking if I was part of the detectives working the missing child case that was on the news last night," Sanchez told Provenza. "Yes, I heard about Luke missing from his house and he is such a nice boy, I wanted to come down here in person and tell you what odd things I saw the day before he went missing," Mrs. Davies spoke and Provenza nodded.

"Um, why don't you come with me into this conference room here and you can tell Detective Sanchez and I what you witnessed, alright?" Provenza said to her in a sweet, charming voice, as he walked with her towards the conference room with Detective Sanchez following them.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 8

"I saw something suspicious that morning while I was sitting by my window," Mrs. Davies was saying as she sat with Provenza and Julio in the conference room. "Why were you up at 2:30 that morning?" Provenza asked her. "Oh, well, you see I was having a hard time sleeping and I decided to get up and make myself some tea. I did that and then I sat by the window drinking the tea and that's when I noticed movement from that house," she told them.

Provenza glanced at Julio and nodded to him. He stood up and left the room. "Hold that thought Mrs. Davies, my colleague needs to get a couple of things before you continue talking," Provenza told her with a smile. Mrs. Davies sat back and folded her hands, looking across the table at Provenza. "You have a nice smile, has anyone told you that? It reminds me of my late Charlie, he had a nice smile," she said as they waited.

Andy glanced up from his desk and saw Julio walking past his desk. "What's going on?" he asked him. "The Lieutenant wants Buzz to turn on the camera and mic in the conference room," he told Andy. "Oh yeah, why?" Andy stood up to follow him into Electronics. "She saw something suspicious, might be credible," Julio shrugged his shoulders.

"Buzz, turn on the camera in the conference room," Julio told Buzz as he walked into the room. Buzz looked up from the monitor he was watching, with previous video from the search yesterday. "Sure," Buzz stated as he flipped the switch for that camera. Andy moved around Julio and sat down next to Buzz. Julio left and stopped to get a notepad and pen before returning to the conference room.

Meanwhile, Sharon saw Provenza in the conference room with an older lady and stood up from her desk. "Are we all set, Cynthia?" she asked as she walked over to the conference room door in her office. "Yes, we will wait for your team to show up at the house this morning and we will remove Eric from the home," Cynthia told her as she stood up.

"Thank you," Sharon nodded and entered the conference room, closing the door behind her. "Lieutenant, is everything okay?" Sharon asked Provenza as she stepped into the room. "Commander, this is Mrs. Davies, she saw the news last night and has something important that may help us in our investigation into Luke's disappearance," Provenza told her. Sharon nodded as she sat down to the left of Provenza.

"Hello Mrs. Davies, I'm Commander Sharon Flynn, sorry to interrupt, but please continue what you were saying," Sharon said as she saw Julio come back into the room. Mrs. Davies then began to tell her story to them.

"I was sitting there, looking out the window and saw Claudia and Bill walking outside their home, carrying something that was wrapped in a blanket," Mrs. Davies said but before she could continue, Provenza stopped her.

Sharon looked at Provenza as he spoke to the older lady. "Now, Mrs. Davies, I just want to make sure you saw Claudia and William outside their home at 2:30 in the morning, wasn't it dark there?" Provenza asked her. Mrs. Davies shook her head. "There's a street lamp in front of their house, it gave enough light, I know what I saw," Mrs. Davies insisted and she continued.

"I saw them place the rolled-up blanket in the trunk of the car, they both got in the car and drove away," she added. "Did you see Eric or Luke during this time?" Sharon asked her. "No, I did not see those boys anywhere, and then when I saw you guys at the house, I wondered what happened," Mrs. Davies stated.

Sharon glanced at Provenza and Julio. "Excuse us for a minute, Mrs. Davies," Sharon said as she stood up and gestured for Provenza and Julio to follow her outside the room. Julio closed the door behind them as they entered the hallway. Sharon ran her hand over her forehead. "How do we know what she saw actually happened?" she asked them.

"She seems credible, ma'am," Julio said and Sharon nodded. "And, the K9 officers did say the dog alerted to their car," he added. "Okay, this is what we are going to do," Sharon said. "Have Mrs. Davies write down her statement, we need to see if any of the street cameras or building cameras catch the car leaving the house," Sharon said and started walking towards Electronics.

"Sanchez, make sure our witness writes down her statement," Provenza told him and he nodded as he re-entered the conference room. Mrs. Davies sat there waiting for Julio to say something. "Uh, my Commander would like you to write down everything that you told us," he told her, sitting down and placing the notepad in front of her.

"Oh, okay," Mrs. Davies said as she picked up the pen to start writing. "I do hope you find that boy, Luke. He is such a nice boy," she told him.

Sharon opened the door to Electronics. "Buzz," she said as she stepped inside. "Yes ma'am?" he answered her. "I need you to locate any cameras that may have caught Claudia and William's car around 2:30 in the morning yesterday," Sharon told him. "Yes ma'am," Buzz answered and started working on his computer.

"We need to call SID and get an evidence technician out to the house to search that car for anything, fibers, blood, anything that can corroborate Mrs. Davies's statement," Sharon turned to her two Lieutenants. "I'll get on that," Provenza told her and left the room.

"Sharon?" Andy called her name as she stood there, going over things in her head. "I told Cynthia we needed to get Eric out of that house, she agreed. We're going to meet her and her team there in about an hour. They will take him out of the house while we bring Claudia and William in for questioning," Sharon told him.

"Okay," Andy said and followed her out of Electronics, back into the Murder Room. She walked over to Mike's desk. "Mike, where are we on getting the sonar team out for the sewer system?" she asked him. "They are being sent out, I was going to meet them at the location where we were last night," Mike told her. "Go ahead, Mike," Sharon told him and he stood up, putting his jacket on and grabbed his bag as he walked out of the office.

"SID is going to meet us at the house," Provenza told Sharon. "Good," she said looking around the room. "Let's get ready to head to the house then," she added and started to walk towards the conference room. She saw Mrs. Davies was talking with Julio there. "Mrs. Davies," Sharon said as she entered the room.

"I was just speaking to your nice Detective here. I wrote my statement. Like I was telling your Detective, when they moved in down the street, I knew they were trouble from the beginning," Mrs. Davies stated. "Thank you, Mrs. Davies, for coming down here and saying something," Sharon told her. "My Detective will escort you out," she added and nodded to Julio.

"Um, this way ma'am," Julio stood up and showed Mrs. Davies outside the room and walked her out of the office. Andy walked over to Sharon and noticed the worry lines on her face as she read Mrs. Davies statement. "Hey, everything okay?" he asked her. Sharon looked up at him. "Why didn't I insist on bringing in Claudia yesterday?" she asked him, in a hushed voice.

"Hey, you did what you thought was best," he told her placing his hand on her shoulder to offer some sort of comfort. She shook her head slightly and sighed. "You gave her the benefit of the doubt as a mother," he added as he looked into her eyes. She cleared her throat and moved towards the Murder Board. She moved Claudia and William's pictures over to the suspects area on the board and then wrote a summary of key points that Mrs. Davies mentioned in her witness statement.

Provenza looked up from his desk. "SID will meet us at the house," Provenza told her. "Good, Lieutenant," Sharon said. "I want patrol there too. I have a feeling Claudia's not going to come here for questioning willingly," she added. "We're ready to head over whenever you are," Andy said as he stepped over to join Sharon and Provenza by the Murder Board.

Meanwhile, as Julio met Amy in the hallway, two patrol officers brought in a guy in handcuffs. "Detectives!" one of the patrol officers yelled out to them. Julio and Amy looked at each other. "Yes, Officer?" Amy stated back to him. "We picked up Frankie Ramsey, and Central said to bring him down here for Major Crimes," the patrol officer told them.

"Uh, yeah, okay," Julio stated as he took custody of Frankie. "Hello Frankie," he added as he grabbed Frankie's arm and led him towards the Murder Room, with Amy leading the way inside.

"I didn't do anything!" Frankie shouted as he entered the Murder Room, prompting Sharon, Andy, and Provenza to look up at the commotion. "Detectives! Who is this and why is he here?" Sharon asked Amy and Julio as she turned around to face them.

"This is Frankie Ramsey, ma'am," Julio answered her as he brought him into the middle of the room. "Patrol picked him up not too long ago, along with this," Amy said and held up a bag of white powder. "Great," Andy mumbled. "Place him in Interview room 2, down the hall," Sharon informed them and Amy lead the way. "I didn't do anything!" Frankie shouted again as Julio escorted him down the hall.

"Now what?" Andy asked Sharon as they stood there. "We will go to the house as planned," Sharon stated and started walking down the hallway to Interview Room 2. "Let me just get things started with Frankie here," she added, leaving Andy and Provenza standing by the board.

"How was she last night when you got home?" Provenza inquired to his friend. "She woke up early, found her outside on our balcony," Andy answered him, sighing as he watched Sharon disappear into the interview room.

"Hello Frankie, I'm Commander Sharon Flynn of the LAPD. I just want you to know that we will be charging you with possession. However, if you cooperate with my detectives here, and answer our questions, I'll see about a plea agreement for the possession charge," Sharon told him as she leaned on the table, across from where he was sitting.

"What questions?" Frankie responded. "When was the last time you saw Luke Duffy?" Sharon asked him, point blank. Frankie laughed. "Luke? Why do you want to know about him, he's just a kid?" Frankie asked as he leaned back in his seat, tugging his right hand against the chair he was handcuffed to.

"Because Frankie, Luke is missing and we think you had something to do with it," Julio told him. "Me? I didn't have nothing to do with him missing," Frankie insisted. "When was the last time you dealt meth, Frankie?" Sharon asked him. "I'm not a dealer," Frankie shook his head no.

"Fine, charge him with possession and take him down to booking," Sharon said and started to walk out of the room. "Wait! Wait! I thought there was a plea agreement?" Frankie cried out as Julio and Amy both stood up from their seats. "There was, if you were to cooperate, but since you say you aren't a dealer, then there's nothing more for us to ask," Sharon told him.

"Wait! Wait!" Frankie yelled out as Sharon stepped out of the room. "Okay! I'll cooperate!" Frankie yelled out again. Sharon stopped and turned around, entering the room again. "When was the last time you saw Luke Duffy!" Sharon asked him again.

"Three days ago, when I gave Claudia her meth she wanted," Frankie told her. "Where was Luke?" Amy asked him. "He had just gotten home with his dad from school, I saw him briefly before I left," Frankie answered her. "What time did you leave?" Julio asked him. "I don't know, 7?" Frankie answered.

"Place the narcotics in the secure storage room and then bring him down to holding, he can stay there while we sort everything else out," Sharon told Amy as she left the room. Sharon took a deep breath before she walked into Electronics.

"Buzz, how are you doing in here?" Sharon asked as she opened the door. "Still searching ma'am," Buzz informed her and she nodded. "Thank you," she told him and closed the door. She continued her way to join Andy and Provenza by their desks.

"Ready gentlemen?" she asked them both as she walked into her office, grabbed her bullet-proof vest, and walked out. Andy glanced over at Provenza as he was putting his vest on. "I don't think we will need these but you never know," she told them as she placed her vest on.

As they walked out of the office, Andy walked ahead of Sharon and pressed the button for the elevator. "Amy and Julio will meet us at the house," she told them as she stepped inside the elevator. "What did Frankie have to say?" Andy asked her as they rode down to the parking garage.

"Not much, other than he gave Claudia meth about 3 nights ago, that's when he briefly saw Luke," Sharon informed them. The doors to the elevator opened and they all stepped out and walked over to the vehicles. Sharon and Andy got in their vehicle while Provenza got in his and they left the garage.

Meanwhile, at Claudia and William's house, William was up pacing back and forth in the living room. "Will you please stop that!" Claudia told him as she held Eric on the couch. "Did you see how many police cars are out there?" William pointed out as he pulled the curtain back to glance out the window.

"Our son is missing, that's to be expected," Claudia said in a sinister grin. "I don't like this, they're going to find out, and then what? We go to jail? Eric gets taken away?" William stated as he sat down on the chair across from the couch.

"Why'd you do it? What the hell got into you that night?" William asked her. "Oh, don't act so innocent, you were there too!" Claudia told him and then walked into the kitchen, leaving Eric on the couch. William sat there with his head in his hands.

A half hour later, Andy pulled the car up to the Duffy's house, followed by Provenza. A minute later, Amy and Julio pulled right behind Provenza's car. SID officers also showed up to the house. The SID officers were speaking to Lieutenant Provenza as Sharon saw Cynthia exit her car and walk over towards them. She was with another person, Sharon presumed it was the case worker. Sharon stepped out of the car and met Cynthia.

"Commander this is Molly, she's the case worker for the Duffy's," Cynthia introduced them. "I'm sorry that this has led to Luke missing," Molly stated as they walked towards the house. Provenza walked over to where Sharon was walking towards the house.

"Commander, SID officers are going to examine the car, per the search warrant that we received this morning," Provenza told her. Sharon couldn't remember asking for them to get a search warrant but was grateful that Provenza was holding one in his hands. "Sounds good," she sighed and then followed Cynthia, Molly, and Andy to the house.

"Cynthia, you take the lead in this. You remove Eric, and we'll take care of the parents," Sharon told Cynthia as they walked up the front steps. Sharon turned around and saw Andy was right behind her. She nodded to him and he nodded back, a small gesture that meant the world to her.

Cynthia rang the door bell and they waited until the door opened. William was standing at the door as he opened it. "Mister Duffy, I'm with DCFS we need to take a look around the house," Cynthia informed him and she started to step inside the house. "Now wait a minute you can't just barge in here!" William started to shout as Cynthia walked past him.

"Actually, they can, William," Sharon spoke, as William turned to look at her. "We need you and your wife to come downtown with us, we have some more questions for you," Sharon told him. "What are you doing!" Claudia started yelling from the kitchen. Sharon made her way inside the house along with Andy and Amy.

William started to follow them but Provenza stopped him. "Uh, I think you better stay here," he told William as Julio stepped in front of him. Claudia ran over to where Cynthia was standing with Eric, but before she started a fight, Amy and Andy stepped in to stop her.

"I don't think you want to be doing that," Andy told Claudia as Amy grabbed her arms. Claudia tried yanking her arms away, but that only made Amy grip tighter and they both went down to the floor. Claudia tried to squirm her way out but Andy had enough and placed handcuffs on her as Amy gained control.

Andy helped Claudia stand back up and faced her where Sharon was standing. "You bitch!" Claudia yelled at Sharon. Sharon stepped forward. "Listen! I'm tired of playing games with you, we need to ask you and your husband some more questions, now either you can cooperate and come downtown with us or I will throw on an obstruction and assault charge!" Sharon told her.

"Where are they taking Eric?" Claudia pleaded. "Eric is going to be safe; he is going to stay with them until we are done talking to you downtown," Sharon explained as Claudia started to calm herself down. "Who's going to be here in case Luke comes back?" Claudia asked. "I have patrol officers staying here in case he comes back home," Sharon told her as Amy and Andy walked Claudia out. Andy was reading Claudia her rights as they stepped outside.

They placed Claudia in the back of Julio's car and Amy sat back there with her. Julio got in the driver's seat and started to drive back to the PAB. Sharon glanced over at where Cynthia and Molly were. They were talking to Eric. He seemed to be okay at the moment but Sharon wasn't sure. Andy walked over to her and placed his hand on her arm and slid it down to grab her hand in his. Giving a gentle squeeze, he informed her that William was going in a patrol car back to the PAB and she nodded.

Sharon walked over to where the SID officers were searching the car. "I want to take a few pictures to document the search," she told one of them as she pulled her phone out. "Sure Commander," the officer said as she was pulling a small piece of fiber from the trunk of the car. Sharon started snapping pictures.

"What is that?" Sharon asked as Andy approached her. "Looks like some sort of fiber from either a towel or a rug would be my guess," the officer told her as she placed the piece of fiber into an evidence bag. Sharon looked up to the sky as Andy stood next to her. "We're going to tow the car back to our lab so that we can get a better look at things," the officer told Sharon and Andy.

Andy looked at Sharon who didn't respond to the officer's comments. "Uh, that's fine. If you could let us know the results from your search, that'd be great," Andy told the officer and then turned to Sharon. "Sharon?" he spoke to her but she just shook her head slightly, he could see tears starting to form in her eyes.

Sharon's phone rang as she was still standing with Andy. She cleared her throat as she looked at the caller id and saw it was Mike calling her. "Yes, Lieutenant Tao?" she answered her phone, wiping her finger just under her right eye. "Commander, just wanted to give you a quick update on the sonar team," Mike said, as he stood in one of the sewer systems with one of the operators.

"Yes, go ahead," Sharon said as she plugged her right ear with her finger so she could hear him better. "The sonar team has these drones that carry devices on them so it's easier to maneuver them inside confined spaces," Mike started to tell her. Sharon glanced up at Andy and stepped away from him as Mike continued.

"No sign of Luke in the sewer system so far," Mike added. "Okay, keep me posted. We are bringing the parents back in for questioning now," Sharon said. "Will do," Mike told her and he hung up the phone. Sharon did the same and took a deep breath before re-joining Andy.

Andy held her door open to the passenger side of their car and she got in with Andy closing the door and walking around the car to the driver's side. He saw Provenza drive off following the patrol car. Andy pulled the car out onto the street and followed them back to the PAB.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

**WARNING: **These next two chapters are going to be intense.

**SPOILER: **The next sentence may contain spoilers for the next two chapters of this story.

**WARNING PART 2: **If you don't want to read about the murder of a child, please skip the next two chapters, otherwise you have been warned.

Chapter 9

"I want my lawyer!" Claudia shouted out as Amy sat next to her in the car. "I want my lawyer!" she shouted again as Julio pulled into the parking garage at the PAB. "You know you do have the right to remain silent," Amy told her as she escorted her out of the car.

They walked towards the elevator and met up with the patrol officers that took William. "We'll take her up first, you guys follow with him," Julio told the patrol officers as Amy stepped into the elevator with Claudia. They took her upstairs to Interview room 3. Amy removed the handcuffs and Claudia sat down on the chair.

Julio turned around to face the open door of the room and saw the two officers with William. "We're going to put him in interview room 1, down the hall," he told the officers and they walked William over to that room and waited.

A few minutes later, Sharon and Andy, along with Provenza, stepped off the elevator and made their way down the hall. "Commander," Chief Howard called out to Sharon as he made his way down the other hallway. Sharon turned to Andy and Provenza. "I'll interview Claudia with Amy, you two interview William," she told them and they nodded, walking away from where she was standing.

Chief Howard walked over to Sharon. "Yes, Chief," Sharon said. "Any update on the case?" he asked her. "DCFS removed Eric from the house. I have both parents in the interview rooms now. We also have a witness statement from one of their neighbors stating that they saw the parents putting something in their car early yesterday morning," Sharon briefed him as they both started walking towards the Murder Room.

"SID is moving that car to their warehouse lab to fully search the car, and yes, we did obtain a search warrant for the car," Sharon added as they stepped into the Murder Room. "Good, well it sounds like you have your hands full this morning, let me know if you need anything else," Chief Howard told her and then walked out of the room.

Sharon continued into Electronics. As she opened the door, Buzz was busily working on his computer and also monitoring the interview rooms. "Anything yet, Buzz?" Sharon asked. "Not yet Commander," Buzz answered her. "I'm searching the traffic cameras that are near the parents' house, I'll let you know if I find that car," he added.

"Thank you Buzz," Sharon said as she leaned over the monitors to see what was going on in the interview rooms. She saw Amy and Julio in the room with Claudia on one monitor and Andy, Provenza, and William on the other monitor. Andy and Provenza already started their interview.

"I'll be in the interview room with Claudia," she told him as she slipped an ear piece into her right ear. "Yes Commander," Buzz looked over at her and then returned to his computer. Sharon exited Electronics and made her way to Interview Room 3.

She paused and composed herself before she stepped inside the interview room. "Detective Sanchez, if you could go to Electronics, thank you," Sharon said as she passed Julio standing against the wall and sat down on the chair next to Amy. "Yes ma'am," Julio answered and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Claudia, there's some questions we have about Luke's disappearance that I would like you to answer," Sharon started the interview as Claudia sat there across the table. "I'm not talkin until my lawyer comes," Claudia told her.

Sharon looked at her and figured she'd have to approach the interview a different way. "Okay then, you just sit there while I talk to my detective about Luke's disappearance," Sharon told her and turned in her chair to face Amy.

"Detective Sykes, the K9 officers yesterday morning stated to us that most likely, Luke did not wander off from the house property, isn't that correct?" Sharon asked Amy. "Uh, yes I do believe they said that," Amy, playing along following the Commander's lead.

"I believe they also said that Luke's scent was stronger in the car, than outside of the house," Amy added. Sharon nodded. "That's right Detective, they did mention that," Sharon said as she took some notes on the notepad she was holding.

"What, what are you writing?" Claudia asked Sharon as she pointed to the notepad. "Oh, I'm sorry Claudia, since you invoked your right to counsel, I can't speak to you," Sharon told her in a sweet voice which irritated Claudia further as she sat back in her chair. Sharon continued to discuss the case with Amy as Claudia sat there and stewed.

Meanwhile, in Interview Room number 1, both Provenza and Andy were having a field day interviewing William again. "You know, this is the second time I've given my statement on what happened," William stated as he sat there. "Yeah, well, there seems to be some loopholes in your statement that we were hoping you could help us fill," Andy told him.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" William asked as he sat there. "Like the last time you saw Luke," Provenza stated to him. William had a questionable look on his face. "I already told you the last time we saw him was when we tucked him in his bed," William stated to them.

"What time was that again?" Provenza asked him. "I don't know, around 9?" William answered. "Do you know where they took Eric?" he asked them. "No, but I'm sure he's safe," Andy told him and William sighed.

"How long has your wife been using again?" Andy asked him. William started at him before he answered. "Just a couple of times," William told him. "She started again last week," he added. Andy leaned back in his chair as William continued to speak. "I told her she needed to stop because of the baby, but she didn't want to listen to me," William continued.

"How many times did your wife threaten Luke?" Andy asked him and from the look on Provenza's face after he asked that question, he was shocked. "Flynn," Provenza grumbled as he looked at Andy and William. "What?" Andy said. "The people at the day care place told us that Luke told them that his mother would threaten him if he didn't clean up his room," Andy continued.

"You went to the day care where Luke attends?" William asked them both. "Yes, we did," Provenza answered. "What, what did they tell you about Luke?" William asked further. Both Andy and Provenza were not going to answer him. He took their bait and now they needed to crunch down and get William to say what they wanted to know.

Meanwhile, back in Electronics, Buzz made a breakthrough and found the car in question. "I think I found the car," he said, telling Julio who was sitting next to him watching the interviews. "I found it!" Buzz said again and paused the frame he was searching and pulled up the vehicle that belonged to William and Claudia.

"Here it is heading westbound on the 110," he pointed to the screen. Julio saw the car as it passed the exit for Dodger Stadium. "The traffic camera from exit 24D picks them up here," Buzz explains as he forwards the screen to the next traffic camera on the 110 at the junction where 110 and the 101 crosses. "Here's the car, still on the 110," Buzz points it out.

He pulls up the next camera around the time that the car should have been there but there's no sign of the car. "They must have gotten off somewhere, between Wilshire and the 101," Julio mentioned as Buzz was now searching through LA street cameras.

Julio pressed down on the mic and alerted Sharon to the new discovery. "Sorry to interrupt ma'am but Buzz found the car driving on the 110," Julio informed her. As Sharon was listening to what Julio was saying, Claudia's lawyer walked into the room, escorted by a police officer who knocked before they entered.

"I hope you weren't questioning my client before I got here," he told them. "No, my detective and I were just chatting about the case," Sharon told him as he sat down next to Claudia. "Don't say another word," Steven told Claudia as he placed his binder on the table in front of him.

"Are you charging my client and her husband with something?" Steven asked as he opened his binder. "Not yet, we brought them both in for questioning," Sharon told him. "I thought you questioned them yesterday?" Steven asked as he glanced at Claudia.

"We did, but I don't believe Claudia is telling us the whole truth," Sharon looked across the table at the woman. "In fact, I think your client here is exhibiting signs of meth withdrawal, isn't that right Detective?" she said and turned to Amy. "It does look that way," Amy mentioned as Sharon stood up from her chair.

Meanwhile, back in Electronics, Buzz paused the video feed from one of the traffic cameras at exit 23C off of the 110. "There's the car," Julio pointed out, noting the time stamp on the photo. It was stamped at 2:55 am. "I'll look on the southbound cameras and see if they turned south, first," Buzz told him as he selected a camera from Second and Figueroa Streets. He fast-forwarded the time for about ten minutes as he was sure the car would have passed that intersection in that time frame. He didn't see the car.

"Okay, let's check northbound, Buzz," Julio suggested when they didn't see the car through twenty minutes of the southbound camera. Buzz pulled up the traffic camera on the light at Second and Emerald Streets, and ran the feed from 2:55 am to 3:05 am. They both saw the car cross the intersection at 2:57 am. The next camera that Buzz accessed was the Bureau of Street Maintenance camera on their building. Since it is a public building, the LAPD could access the feed from it.

They saw the car pass the building at 2:58 am and it was heading north still. At the corner of Second and Glendale Boulevard, the car could be seen turning onto Glendale Boulevard. "Where are they going?" Buzz said but Julio shook his head, as he too was wondering where the car was headed.

Julio brought up his map app on his phone to see if he could figure out what was in the area. "I got them turning right onto Colton Street," Buzz called out as Julio moved his map to that area. "There's two parks in the area, one off of Colton," Julio told him.

"Which park?" Buzz asked as he brought up the LA Parks and Recreation website on another laptop computer. "Uh, Vista Hermosa Park and the other one doesn't have a name," Julio looked over at Buzz who was working diligently on both computers in front of him.

"Ugh, I can't pull up any cameras from the park, but there is a traffic camera on Boylston Street and Temple Street, if I look at that one we can see if the car passes that intersection, I mean it's a long shot," Buzz said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Do it," Julio responded as he watched Buzz pull up the video feed from that camera. They went for five minutes, then ten, and eventually twenty minutes on the feed but no sign of the car.

"They pulled off somewhere," Julio stated. "I think we should let the Commander know about this," Buzz said and Julio nodded in agreement. "Commander, I think you better come into Electronics," Buzz informed Sharon through her ear piece.

Sharon was still standing when Buzz called her. "Detective, I'll be right back, in the meantime, Steven, why don't you converse with your client here, perhaps you can convince me that she shouldn't be considered a suspect in her son's disappearance," Sharon said calmly to Steven and then left the room. Sharon walked down the hallway towards Electronics. She wondered if Buzz located where the car may have been going to on the 110 from the earlier notice.

Back in Interview Room 1, William was starting to have a hard time focusing on their questions. "William, don't you wonder why your wife called a lawyer? I mean, is it normal for someone to call a lawyer when their kid goes missing?" Andy asked as he looked at William and then Provenza. "Ha, only if you're guilty," Provenza answered Andy as he looked at William sitting across from them.

"And why haven't you asked for a lawyer, William?" Provenza asked him but he remained silent as he sat there. "Claudia asked for her lawyer right away, as we took both of you down here," he added. "Why haven't you?" Andy asked again. "Seems to me like you want to tell us something, is that true?" Andy added.

Sharon walked into Electronics and Buzz informed her of their findings. He showed her on the monitor where the car was located and narrowed down the location to two possible parks in the area. He then showed her that he found the car driving back on the 110 heading towards Montecito Heights.

"Do we see any of their faces in the car?" Sharon asked him. "No," Buzz replied. "Okay, good work Buzz," she told him. "Julio, please notify Lieutenants Flynn and Provenza about this news. I'm going to turn the heat up on the mother," Sharon said and left the room, returning to the interview room where Claudia was located.

William shifted in his chair. He hated sitting there in front of Andy and Provenza. His palms started to sweat. Before he could say anything further, a knock on the door came and Julio stepped inside after opening the door. "Uh, sorry Lieutenants but the Commander wanted me to give you an update," Julio stood there. Both Provenza and Andy looked at each other and stood up. They walked outside the room and Julio told them both about the car and where the general area of where they located it.

"I think William here is getting ready to confess, I'm pretty sure he'll tell us where they went," Andy said and Julio nodded and returned to Electronics. Provenza and Andy returned to the room and sat back down. "Look, William, a new development happened and we need to know what happened to Luke," Andy told him.

William sat there, still nervous, and took a deep breath. "If I cooperate with you, what would I get?" William stuttered for the first time. Andy looked at Provenza. He couldn't believe this guy was for real asking that. "How about you do the right thing?" Andy gritted his teeth. He was getting ready to knock some sense into this guy.

"Depending on how you cooperate, we can talk to the DA's office," Provenza told him, but Andy just shook his head. William thought about what he heard and after a long pause, he spoke. "I had gone out after I brought Luke home from the day care," William started to tell them. "Where'd you go?" Andy asked. "I met some of my buddies at the local bar," he told them. "Do you have something vouching you for that?" Provenza asked him.

William pulled out his wallet and took out a paper slip, unfolded it, and placed it on the table. "The Greyhound Bar and Grill," Provenza read it out loud. "I just had maybe two drinks and watched the game with my buddies, then went home," William told them. The receipt was dated and time stamped. "Why didn't you mention this yesterday when you were here the first time?" Provenza asked him but William didn't answer.

"I came home, Claudia was yelling at Luke," William continued. "I told Luke to go to his room and he did," he added. "Then what happened?" Andy asked. William looked up at the two of them. "I asked Claudia what was going on but I could tell she was high, she always got angry when she got high," he told them.

"Then what?" Provenza asked and William continued. "I don't know, I went to bed," William stated. Andy looked at Provenza with a disgusted look on his face. Provenza saw it but ignored his friend. "Then what happened?" Andy gritted his teeth and slammed his hand against the table.

"I woke up, and I heard the shower running in our bathroom, so I walked into the bathroom and saw Claudia there, and Luke was under the shower spray, laying on the shower bathtub floor," William's voice cracked. "I turned off the water, and yelled at her. She said she had to punish Luke. I could tell he was dead," by the time William finished he was holding back tears.

Andy immediately stood up from his chair. His chair moved a few inches. This caught Provenza's attention and he turned to his friend, pointing his finger at him as Andy was really ready to punch this guy. "Stop!" he told Andy and Andy just stared at William.

"Now, what did you do with Luke's body?" Provenza asked him. "We took him, rolled up in a rug, and drove him to a park," William stated as he cried.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

**A/N:** Thank you all for the wonderful reviews of this story. I greatly appreciate it!

**WARNING: **Just like the last chapter, this chapter is very intense.

Chapter 10

"I was wondering if your client can tell me what time was the last time she saw her son Luke the night before he went missing," Sharon looked at Claudia. Steven turned to his client and nodded his head. "Before he went to bed, um around 9 that night?" Claudia spoke in a shaky voice. "You're sure about that? Counselor, please inform your client that it is in her best interests to tell us the truth!" Sharon again stated.

"I'm advising you to tell the truth," Steven whispered to Claudia in her ear. "I might have been high that night, after my cousin left the house, I snorted the meth that he gave me," she spoke as her hands started to shake. "Who else was home with you?" Sharon asked her. Claudia paused a moment before answering. "Luke and Eric," she told them.

"Where was your husband?" Amy asked her. "He went out to a local bar but came back later that night," Claudia said. Sharon looked at Amy and then continued to turn up the heat. "You said you were high, from snorting meth, is that correct?" Sharon asked her. Claudia nodded yes. "Then how can you remember anything that happened that night?" Sharon leaned forward in her chair.

Claudia showed a panic on her face, it was the subtle change that Sharon was looking for. "I came off my high to know my husband returned and I tucked Luke and Eric in bed around 9," Claudia said, but Sharon had caught her. "Claudia, I don't know what you claimed to have snorted that night but meth has an effect on you where you're high for a long time, and it's very difficult to remember anything," Sharon said.

"We can easily test your blood to see if you used narcotics, once again the truth would be appreciated!" Sharon informed the room. Claudia sat there in silence, almost a minute too long to Sharon's liking. "Okay, so maybe I wasn't as high as I first said," Claudia told them.

"I don't think you were high at all," Sharon told her. "I think a few weeks ago you saw one of the drawings that Luke did in school where he drew just him and his brother, you got furious with that drawing, how he didn't include you, after all, you were his mother," Sharon continued.

"That ungrateful kid! Do you know what he told me when DCFS brought them back home?" Claudia's voice turned to a darker sound as she continued. "He told me that he wished he could live with his foster parents," Claudia took a deep breath. "My son told me that!" Claudia choked back tears.

"What did you do," was more of a statement than a question from Sharon. "I yelled at him that night, Bill came home during that, told Luke to go to his room. He thought I was high, don't blame him for thinking that," Claudia stated.

"Then what happened?" Sharon asked her but it seemed like Claudia was staring down at the table. "Claudia!" Sharon shouted trying to get her attention. "Then what happened?" Darth Flynn made an appearance as Sharon was down with the nonsense that Claudia was giving.

"I woke him up," Claudia started to say. "Who?!" Sharon wanting to make sure she got Claudia to say Luke's name. "Luke, I got Luke up from his bed and brought him into our bathroom. I told him that if he didn't like living here with us then I was going to grant him his wish," Claudia started to cry.

Sharon wasn't buying any of her tears. "What did you do next," she asked her. Claudia wiped a tear from her eye. "I put him in the bathtub and ran the shower, making sure it was ice cold and I kept him inside, letting the water flow down on him," Claudia said in a calm voice.

Sharon couldn't believe what she just heard but she also needed to figure out where that car was headed. "What did you do with Luke's body?" Sharon asked her. "Before my client answers that, we need to make a deal," Steven interrupted. "We're talking the murder of a child here, Mister Donaldson, I'm not making a deal," Sharon informed him and then focused back on Claudia.

"Claudia," Sharon said her name again and Claudia looked at her. "What did you do with Luke's body?" she asked her again. Claudia paused before answering. "Bill came in and saw what happened. He helped me roll up Luke's body in an old rug we had and then we took his body to the car," she told her.

Sharon took a deep breath as she glanced over at Amy. Amy couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Claudia, we have photos of your car being driven on the 110, where did you take Luke's body?" Sharon asked her, hoping she would give the location where they went that morning.

Claudia stared at Sharon. "You're a mother, right?" Claudia asked her. "I am, yes," Sharon said. "What would you do if your kid told you that he didn't want to live with you anymore?" Claudia posed a question to her. "That he enjoyed being with his foster parents," Claudia added as she sat there. Sharon folded her hands on the table and looked directly at Claudia. "I wouldn't have killed my own child," Sharon told her.

"That's why your sitting in that chair now, so answer the question!" Sharon added. "We drove to a park, Hermosa something, he's there," Claudia finally told her. Sharon stood up from her chair. "Amy, arrest Claudia for murder and book her downstairs," Sharon quickly exited the interview room and made her way back towards the Murder Room.

Sharon was walking towards the other interview room when she heard Provenza yell "Stop!" to someone in the room. She looked up to see Julio exiting Electronics. "Ma'am, the name of the park is Vista Hermosa, and that corresponds to the street cameras we found the car with," Julio informed her as they walked towards the interview room.

"They got the father to confess too," Julio told her before she opened the door. Andy turned around to see Sharon stepping inside the room. She glanced at him before focusing her attention on William. "William here was just telling us his wife killed Luke," Provenza informed her. "She confessed to the murder of Luke, and told us where the body is located," Sharon told them.

"Arrest him for murder too, the DA's office will figure out which murder charges will stick," Sharon told Julio and he nodded. Julio then told William to stand up and he placed handcuffs on him, taking him downstairs with two other patrol officers.

"What did Claudia say about Luke?" Provenza asked as Andy, Sharon, and him walked out of the interview room. "You don't want to know," she said, shaking her head. Andy was still ready to punch something as he stepped back in the Murder Room and walked over to his desk to grab his jacket. Buzz stepped out of Electronics. "I have the park on the map, Commander," he told Sharon and pulled out his phone with a picture of the park Claudia was speaking about.

"I want K9 to roll out with us, call Mike and let him know," Sharon told Provenza as she hurried over to her office and put her LAPD jacket on. "Buzz, you got your camera?" Sharon called out to him as she walked out of her office, joining her Lieutenants as they hurried out of the Murder Room. "Yes, Ma'am," Buzz called out as he followed them to the elevators.

They all stepped into the elevators and rode down to the parking garage. "Have SID meet us there as well," Sharon told Provenza as he was dialing the number on his phone. Sharon and Andy got into their car and drove out of the parking garage with Provenza and Buzz behind them in another vehicle.

"Why did Provenza yell stop in the interview room?" Sharon asked Andy as he was getting on First Street to head towards the park. They had their lights on when they pulled out onto the street. "Cause I was going to punch the father after what he told us," Andy confessed to her. Sharon shook her head. "You know what they did to that kid?" Andy said as he floored it, going at least 80 miles an hour navigating around cars. "Yes," Sharon cleared her throat as she stared out the window.

He put the siren on when a car wouldn't move out of the way. They went under the 110 freeway and the park was on the right-hand side of the street. "Where do you want me to park?" he asked her as they came up to the park. She saw that the street was closed due to construction. "Go around and park in the lot," she pointed out the window and Andy did as he was told.

They pulled up and saw the K9 officers were already there along with Mike. Andy and Sharon got out of the vehicle. "I still want to punch him," Andy said before Sharon walked over to the K9 officers. She heard him but they had to find the boy's body now, she would tell him to go to a meeting later.

"Officer Hicks, thank you for coming out again," Sharon told him. "Not a problem, I heard this is a recovery now," Officer Hicks stated. "Yes, the parents confessed, we need to find the body now," Sharon told him and he nodded. Officer Hicks walked over to his vehicle and took Brutus out. Officer Rogers did the same with Nikki and they met back where Sharon was standing with her team.

"SID just pulled up," Andy informed her as the vehicles made their way to the scene. "Buzz, I want you filming the search," Sharon told him. "Who would you like me to follow?" Buzz asked her but she didn't answer him.

"Listen up people! This is a recovery effort now. We are still looking for Luke Duffy. His parents said his body is here, in this park. I want all of us to search every inch, we have K9 here as well to assist in finding Luke's body," Sharon informed everyone there.

"I would like patrol to block off the area, don't let any media inside, got it?" Sharon told one of the patrol officers and he nodded. "Lieutenant Tao, I want you to go with Officer Rogers, and Lieutenant Flynn, I want you to go with Officer Hicks," Sharon informed Andy and Mike, both nodding once she told them. "Buzz, follow Nikki as she searches," Provenza told him and he joined Mike and the K9 officer.

Sharon watched Andy walk off with Officer Hicks and then turned to Provenza. "There's a lot of walking trails here, we need to look for anything that looks freshly dug up," Sharon walked with Provenza as they made their way towards the flower gardens. "Thank you for stopping Andy from punching the father," she added as they walked through the grass. "Well, I knew you didn't need more paperwork to deal with during this case," Provenza quipped.

Officer Rogers worked Nikki on one of the trails. "Find it girl, come on," he said to his dog as Mike looked around where they were walking. Buzz was filming the search. Officer Rogers let go of Nikki's leash and followed the dog as she ran off ahead. Mike and Buzz quickly followed behind. "She's got something," Officer Rogers called out.

Meanwhile, Officer Hicks and Andy were walking with Brutus when Brutus also picked up a scent. Brutus was sniffing the ground and then started running through the trail they were on. Officer Hicks let go of the leash and both him and Andy kept up with the dog as he tracked down the scent.

"Hey, we got something!" Andy called out over the radio, trying to catch his breath, as both Nikki and Brutus converged on the same location. Before them was a pile of dirt. The dogs were sniffing and started barking, alerting to their handlers that something was underneath. "Let's get SID over here now!" Mike huffed over the radio.

"What's your location?" Provenza said over the radio. Andy looked around. "We're in the middle of the park," he told them, still catching his breath. SID came and started digging in the area that was now blocked off. Andy saw Sharon and Provenza coming up to them. "Both dogs converged on this area," he pointed to the middle.

"We blocked it off, but it looks like there's been some construction over here so it's a good place to hide a body," he told them and Sharon nodded, walking over towards the digging area. She picked up a shovel and started to dig as well. Andy looked at Provenza before joining Sharon.

"Sharon, you don't have to do this," Andy said in a low voice to her as he started digging next to her. "I need to," she said under her breath. "I got something Commander!" one of the SID technicians called out across from them. Sharon stepped over to where she was standing and looked down into the hole. "Looks like a rug ma'am," she said and Sharon looked at Andy.

"Buzz, start recording," Provenza told him as Andy got on his knees along with Mike and started moving the dirt with their gloved hands. They uncovered a rolled-up rug. The SID officers then laid down a tarp next to the hole. Mike nodded to Andy and they both lifted the rug and placed it on the tarp.

Sharon knelt down and unraveled the rug. The body of Luke was inside and she covered her mouth, closing her eyes for a brief few seconds. "Lieutenant, call the Coroner's office please," Sharon told Provenza as she stood back up and watched SID place a sheet over the body. Sharon's phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that Andrea was calling her. "Yes Andrea, how can I help you?" she spoke as she stepped away from the scene.

"Is it true, you got the parents of Luke Duffy to confess to his murder?" Andrea asked her as she drove down to her office. "Yes, we got a confession, and we also just recovered Luke's body in a park," Sharon informed her. "I'm heading into the office now; I should be at your office in an hour or so?" Andrea told her as she got onto the freeway and headed towards downtown. "Thank you, Andrea," Sharon said and hung up her phone.

Provenza walked over to her as Andy stayed with the body. "The Coroner's office will be out here in a few minutes. What do you want to do with the press?" Provenza asked her as he pointed to the helicopter flying overhead. Sharon looked up and took a deep breath. "I'll inform Chief Howard," she told him and started to dial his number.

"Chief, we just found Luke's body," Sharon said as she watched her Lieutenants stand around the body of the child. "The parents confessed and stated where the body was," she explained to him as she took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Sorry, these types of cases never do get easier," Chief Howard told her. "I'll set up a news conference and take care of the press, when can I expect you back here, Commander?" he added.

"Andrea is meeting me in my office in about an hour. I'll be leaving here as soon as the Coroner's office gets here," Sharon told him. "I'll see you when you get here then, good job Sharon, and I'm sorry about the outcome," Chief Howard told her and she hung up the phone. She walked back over to Provenza and Andy.

Provenza looked over as Sharon walked up to where they were standing. "Uh, Commander, why don't you and Flynn head back to the office, I can wait here with the body for Kendall to show up," Provenza told her. "Thank you, Lieutenant, but I want to be here, besides," Sharon said as she looked over and saw some movement and pointed in that direction.

"Looks like Kendall has arrived," Andy said somberly as he stood next to Sharon. Sharon reached out for his hand and gave a little tap. Andy held her hand in his for a few seconds before letting go as Sharon stepped away towards Luke's body and joined Kendall as he came on to the scene.

"Commander, sorry to hear about the boy," Kendall said as he met Sharon at the body. He knelt down and moved the white sheet to reveal the body. Sharon joined him. He did his preliminary exam like usual. "Please tell Doctor Morales I will meet him at the morgue in a little while," Sharon told Kendall as she stood up and turned towards Provenza and Andy.

"I have Andrea meeting us in an hour in my office, also Chief Howard will be holding a press conference regarding the outcome of this case," Sharon started walking back to where they had all started, near the parking lot. Provenza and Andy both looked at each other before they followed her.

"I'm also meeting Morales at the Morgue whenever he's finished with Luke's body," she told them as they caught up to her. Andy reached for her hand and took hold of it in his hand. He stopped walking, which in turn, made her stop as well. She was looking down at the ground as Andy glanced over at Provenza. Provenza nodded and continued to walk.

Andy pulled Sharon closer to him, in an area in the park that was private, for the moment, and held her in his arms. She kept looking down but eventually, she looked up at him but didn't say a word.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

**A/N: **This is the last chapter of this story. Thank you all for your patience!

Chapter 11

"I think you should go to a meeting later today," Sharon said as Andy drove them back to the PAB. "I'm fine," he muttered as he turned down Broadway Street. "I'm worried about you though," he whispered, loud enough for Sharon to hear it. "I just want this day to be over so we can go home," Sharon told him as she looked out the window and saw all of the news vans out in front of the PAB.

"I know, I think we should call the kids, you know, just to hear their voices," Andy told her as they pulled into the parking garage. "We'll call Emily and Ricky when we get home," Sharon smiled at Andy as he parked the car.

As they got out of the car, Andy walked around to Sharon's side and stopped her before they went upstairs. "Look, before you go up there and get bombarded with everything, I just want to say," he said, taking a deep breath but Sharon placed her finger on his lips and hushed him. She shook her head, telling him to stop talking.

"I know Andy," she told him, as she ran her hand down his arm and to his hand, grabbing it in hers and giving a gentle squeeze. He looked into her eyes but before he could say anything, she started to walk, still holding his hand and he walked with her, towards the elevator.

They stepped inside, but before Sharon pressed the button, she took a deep breath. The doors closed and the elevator started climbing the floors, opening up on the ninth floor. They stepped off and went down the hallway. Chief Howard happened to be standing outside the office.

"Commander, Lieutenant," Chief Howard said as they approached him. "I saw the press downstairs," Sharon said. "I'm holding them off, until you got back here, I have a press conference scheduled for an hour from now," Chief Howard said and walked with them as Sharon and Andy walked into the Murder Room.

As Sharon stepped inside the office, she noticed that Amy and Julio were sitting at their desks, typing away on their computers. "Detectives," she said as she stepped closer to them. "I'm assuming all went well with the booking of the parents?" she asked them both.

"There were no problems, ma'am," Julio stated as he leaned back in his chair. "Good," Sharon said and went towards her office where Chief Howard and Andy were standing. She stepped inside and sat down in her chair, behind her desk.

"So, I was going to tell the press that the parents have been arrested by us and Luke's body has been found, anything else I should add to the statement?" Chief Howard asked her as Andy stood by the door, watching the interaction.

Sharon glanced up at Andy and made eye contact with him before she answered Chief Howard. "No, I'm sure the press will have questions, like why we kept everything closed off from them in the beginning," Sharon told him.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Let me handle all that, you guys concentrate on finishing up this case," Chief Howard told them both before he left Sharon's office. Andy watched him leave before turning his attention to Sharon.

Sharon took her glasses off and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers, closing her eyes in the process. "What do you need me to do?" Andy asked her. She opened her eyes and looked at him. "We need to prep the case before Andrea gets here," she told him. "I'll need the recordings from both interviews and the booking reports," she added.

"I'll get Julio to pull up the interviews if Buzz isn't back on time," Andy told her as he placed his hands on the chair in front of her desk and leaned on it. "Thank you," she said, holding his gaze as he stood there. "I was going to call Nicole and see how Matthew was doing," she added as Andy turned around to exit her office.

Before she could do so, she saw Andrea entering the Murder Room. Sharon sighed as she saw Andrea walking towards her office. "Lieutenant," Andrea said to Andy as she walked into Sharon's office. "Hobbs," he said as he turned to look at Sharon. "I'll get the reports ready," he said to Sharon and she nodded as she watched Andy leave her office.

"Have a seat," she told Andrea and she sat on one of the chairs in front of Sharon's desk. "So, where are the parents right now?" Andrea asked her. "They have been booked and are in the holding cell downstairs," Sharon answered.

"I'd like to watch the interviews," Andrea informed her. "Detective Sanchez will pull them up for you if Buzz isn't back yet," Sharon told her. "Where is their other child?" Andrea asked as she was going through her papers she brought with.

"Eric is in protective custody with DCFS now," Sharon answered her. "And, just so you know, the mother is pregnant with another child," she added and Andrea looked up at her. "Are you serious?" Andrea questioned in general.

Sharon nodded yes in response as she sat there. Andrea shook her head. "The defense can plead hormonal issues affecting the mother, which caused her to murder her child," Andrea said as she looked at Sharon. "I don't think that will be a problem for your case," Sharon told her.

Fifteen minutes later, Julio, Andy, Sharon, and Andrea were sitting in Electronics, watching the interview of Claudia. Andrea couldn't believe what she was hearing from the mother. "We can have her tested for the presence of narcotics, but I don't think she was high when she committed the murder of her child," Sharon said as they continued to watch her interview.

"And the father confessed as well?" Andrea asked them. "Yeah, although he says he woke up to running water in the bathroom and found Claudia with Luke laying at the bottom of the shower," Andy gruffed as he told her. Sharon glanced at him for a brief second before turning her attention back to Andrea.

"Do you need anything else for your case?" Sharon asked her. Andrea took a deep breath and sighed. "No, I think that confession is damning enough for a murder conviction," Andrea said. "I'll get the ball rolling on my end then," Andrea added and paused for a brief moment. "Thank you, please let me know what Doctor Morales says in his report," she concluded. "Of course," Sharon nodded and Andrea left the room.

Sharon sat back in the chair she was sitting in and leaned her head back against the back of the chair. "Once gen population finds out they murdered their child, they're not going to last inside," Julio muttered to them and left the room, leaving Sharon and Andy in Electronics.

"He's right, once they find out in prison what they did, her, I don't know since she's pregnant, she'll be held in a medical ward but him, me punching him would be the least of his worries," Andy said to her. Sharon looked at him but all she said was "Andy".

Maybe instead of a meeting, he needed to go to the gym and punch one of the punching bags there. "Come on, let's watch the press conference in your office," Andy said to her but she just sat there, thinking about the case. "What?" he asked her. "Andy, do you know if you would have punched him in the interview room, you would have jeopardized the case against him?" she said to him, in a serious tone.

Andy looked at her as she stood up from the chair. "Is that what's bothering you? Because I wanted to punch him?" he asked her. She didn't answer him. "Come on Sharon, do you really think I would have punched him?" he said. "I don't know, you keep telling me that you were going to and still want to punch him," Sharon told him.

"Look, I may say that, alright, to you only, because I know I can tell you things. You're my constant, you keep me grounded, especially with tough cases like this one," he confessed to her. She looked at him, tears welling up in her eyes. He held his arms open as an invitation for her. She closed the gap between them and he enveloped her in a hug as the tears rolled down her face.

Her phone chirped, alerting them both to a message but Andy didn't want to let go of Sharon just yet. It chirped again, a few minutes later, as Andy was still holding Sharon in his arms. "I need to get that," she whispered to him, finding it difficult to find her voice at that moment. Andy let go of her and she retrieved her phone from the table.

"Luke's body is at the morgue now. Provenza is on his way back," she told him as she read the text message from Provenza. She took a deep breath and looked at Andy. "Do you want to call the kids now? Just to hear their voices or?" Andy asked her. She looked at the clock on the wall. As if he could read her mind her tells her, "we can call Nicole and see how Matthew's doing".

"Why don't you send her a text message, I'm going to go to my office," she told him and exited Electronics. Andy shook his head after she left the room and pulled out his phone. 'She's going to crash', he thought to himself as he pulled up Nicole's name on his phone and texted her.

An hour later, the press conference was finished, and Sharon's desk phone rang, startling her as she sat there in her office. She watched her team sit at their desks, finishing up the reports, as she answered her phone. "Commander Flynn," she said.

"Commander, it's Doctor Morales," the voice said on the other line. "Yes Doctor," Sharon said as she listened. "It's not pretty but I finished my preliminary report on the body of Luke Duffy, if you'd like to come down here," he told her. "I'll be there shortly," she said. "Thank you, Doctor," she added and hung up her desk phone.

"Lieutenant Provenza, would you please join me and Lieutenant Flynn down at the Morgue," she said as she stepped out of her office. Provenza and Andy both nodded and stood up from their desks. "Lieutenant Tao, please gather all of the reports and place them on my desk when you are finished," she told him.

As Andy, Sharon, and Provenza were walking out of the Murder Room, Andy's phone rang. He pulled it out from his pocket and saw it was Nicole calling him back. Sharon was walking in front of him as he answered the phone. "Hey Nicole," he said as he looked at the back of Sharon's head.

"Hi Dad, I saw your text message earlier, sorry for the delay in getting back to you," Nicole told him as Sharon turned around at the elevators. "Oh, no problem," he said to Nicole. "Just checking in on Matthew and you guys, you know," Andy added.

The elevator came before Sharon could ask Andy for the phone. All three of them stepped inside the elevator before Andy gave Sharon the phone. "Here, someone wants to speak to you," Andy said to Sharon as he handed the phone to her. She gave him an inquisitive look as she took the phone from him and put it up to her ear.

"Hello?" Sharon said, thinking it was going to be Nicole. "Hi mommy," she heard Matthew's voice instead. "Oh Matthew, hello, how are you doing?" she said in a sweet voice. "I'm okay. I went with them to a cub scouts adventure day, we had a lot of fun, there was an archery course and we learned how to use a compass," Matthew told her and Sharon had to laugh at his enthusiasm.

"Oh, that sounds like so much fun!" she told him. "It was," Matthew said. "Are you and daddy almost finished at work?" he added. "Oh, sweetie, we still have to be here a little while longer," Sharon told him as the elevator dinged at the floor they needed to get off.

Sharon stepped out of the elevator followed by Provenza and Andy. Provenza glanced at his friend as they walked down the long hallway towards the Coroner's office. "What?" Andy whispered. Provenza didn't say a word as they walked behind Sharon. "Look, I thought it would be nice if she heard Matthew's voice after we found the body of Luke," Andy explained to him but Provenza just waved him off as they caught up to Sharon who was standing outside of the double doors where the Morgue was held.

Sharon stood there, now off of the phone, and waited to step through the doors. Andy pushed the door and held it open for her as she stepped through, Provenza followed them both. Sharon saw Doctor Morales waiting outside the room for them. Sharon turned to Andy and gave him his phone back.

"Doctor?" Sharon said as she stepped closer to him. "I hate these types of cases as I'm sure you do too," Doctor Morales told her as she placed the gown over her clothing. Andy and Provenza did the same, placing the gowns on. "This was a difficult one, yes," Sharon softly told him before they went into the room.

Doctor Morales nodded and stepped through the doors, holding it open for them to step through. "There were multiple bruises on his body that seemed to be old," Doctor Morales started off by saying as Sharon moved closer to the boy's body. "Do you have a cause of death?" Sharon asked him, looking up at the Doctor.

"There was water in his lungs to suggest that he drowned, his body temperature was also very low, suggesting hypothermia also played a role in his death," Doctor Morales informed them. "His mother placed him inside a shower and ran cold water on him for hours," Andy muttered as he glanced between looking at Luke's body and Sharon, finally looking up at Doctor Morales.

"That would do it, depending on how the body was placed inside the shower, his lungs were not like adult lungs, smaller capacity for air to build up, takes very little water to drown, especially if he was laying, maybe on his chest at the bottom of the shower?" Doctor Morales said as he placed both of his hands on the exam table.

"Thank you, Doctor," Sharon said as she took one more look at Luke's body. "I'll send you my report once it is finished," Doctor Morales told her. She nodded and then stepped out of the room, with Provenza following her. Andy watched them both leave before looking at Doctor Morales.

"Please tell me they're going to prison for doing this," Doctor Morales said to Andy. "They are," Andy said. "Hobbs is on it," he added and Doctor Morales nodded his head. Andy then left to join Sharon and Provenza outside in the hallway.

"There's nothing much left for us to do, Commander," Provenza told Sharon as they all left and walked towards the elevators. "I suggest we all go home and hug our loved ones," he added as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside. "That sounds like a good idea, Lieutenant," Sharon said as the doors closed.

An hour and a half later, Andy was pulling into the driveway of Nicole and Dean's house. He glanced over at Sharon as he placed the vehicle in park. Sharon was practically stepping out of the vehicle before he could turn it off and walked up to the front of the house. Andy had texted Nicole when they were leaving the PAB so that she would be expecting them.

Nicole opened the door and saw Sharon standing there and her dad a few steps behind her. "Hi Nicole," Sharon said to her. Nicole stepped forward and gave Sharon a hug. "Hi Sharon," she told her, as they hugged. "He's in the yard playing with the boys," she added as she pulled away to give her dad a hug.

"Sorry your case ended the way it did," Nicole told both of them as they walked towards the back of the house where the patio door was that led to the backyard. "Thanks for watching him and letting him tag along with the boys to cub scouts today," Sharon told her, giving her a half smile as Andy shook Dean's hand, making their way into the kitchen.

Nicole opened the screen door that lead to the back yard and Sharon stepped out first. Matthew was playing soccer with the boys. Avery was the goalie and Matthew was running with the ball towards him. Sharon smiled at the scene before her. "Matthew!" she called out to him as he kicked the ball towards the makeshift goal Avery was defending. Avery blocked the ball and grabbed it as Matthew turned around to see Sharon and Nicole standing on the patio.

"Mom!" Matthew said and ran over to join her. Sharon enveloped him in her arms and hugged him tightly. Dean and Andy joined them on the patio. "I hope you had a nice time over here today," Sharon told Matthew as she held him. "I did, Mom," Matthew muffled into her shoulder.

"We were wondering if you'd like to join us for dinner," Nicole asked as Dean started to get the grill ready. Sharon looked over at Andy as she held Matthew. "Oh, well, uh," Andy said as he glanced at Sharon before looking at his daughter.

"We'd love to, but let me check in with Rusty to make sure he and Moxie are doing okay," Sharon answered her, letting go of Matthew, and walking inside the house to where her purse was laying on the couch.

"We already checked in with Rusty and he and Moxie are on their way over here," Nicole told Andy as he watched Mathew rejoin his cousins playing in the yard. Andy looked at her inquisitively as she stood there. "What, Dad?" she said to him.

"Nothing sweetheart," Andy smiled at Nicole as Sharon stepped out back onto the patio. "Rusty is on his way over here with Moxie," Sharon sounded surprised when she stepped out. She walked over to where Andy was standing and wrapped her arms around his midsection. "Your daughter arranged this, didn't she?" she asked him and he nodded as he turned in her arms to give her a hug.

About 20 minutes later, Rusty showed up at the house with Moxie and Moxie joined the boys outside and ran around their yard with them. Rusty sat down next to Sharon, who was sitting on one of the lounge chairs watching the boys.

"Sorry about your case, Mom," Rusty sat next to her, after pulling a chair over. "These are the hard cases to get over, but, with the family together tonight, well most of them since Ricky and Emily aren't here, it brings a sense of calm and love, knowing how much we are all loved," Sharon said, smiling as Andy walked over and handed her a glass of red wine.

"Thank you," she told him as she grabbed the glass from his hand. He took a sip of his cranberry soda and watched the boys playing with Moxie in the yard. He then glanced down at Sharon and Rusty, who were continuing their conversation. He looked up and saw Nicole with Dean at the grill, handing him the food to cook. He took a deep breath and sighed.

The End


End file.
